Watson Namoki
Squash Kachina
6" H
with 1/4" base
Watson Namoki was born August
8, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents are from the village
of Kykotsmovi at Third Mesa. His paternal clan is the Fire Clan.
Watson has been carving Kachina
dolls since he was a teenager, and has been carving seriously
since about 1994. Like most artists, he is mostly self-taught
by watching other carvers.
His father, Bob Namoki, is
also a well-known carver. Watson typically creates smaller figures,
with particular attention paid to the costume of the Kachina
and its color and design. Watson's carving is important to him
and not just as an expression of his Hopi culture, but also as
his primary source of income. He is a fairly prolific carver
and does the full range of Kachinas.
As a "runner," the
Patung belongs to a class of kachinas who are not dancers
but rather run races with the men and boys of the village. "They
come in the late spring, either as a group or as individuals,
during a pause in a Mixed Dance or Plaza Dance.
Usually they will select one
end of the Plaza and , assembling there, will endeavor to have
an individual race them. If there are many runners, or Wawarus,
there will be a great churning about with one or another racing
down the length of the Plaza and other prancing up and down to
ready themselves for the coming contest.
Quite often they will lure
some unwary clown into racing and will immediately catch the
hapless individual and perpetrate their peculiar form of punishment
on him. They quickly tire of this and will gesture or hold up
a reward to some young man in the crowd of bystanders.
If he accepts, they will allow
him about ten feet of space in which he can move about as he
pleases. But the minute he leaves the area he runs as if instant
disaster were behind him, and it usually is, for some of the
punishments are quite unpleasant.
Win or lose, he will receive
payment with some kind of food from these racers. No one is safe
from the oldest man to the youngest boy; all, including white
members of the audience can receive the attention of these kachinas.
The kachinas are expected to pay for whipping the young men,
and this they do by sending water when it is needed for germinating
the crops." - Barton Wright,
Kachinas: a Hopi Artist's Documentary (218)
