Hopi Katsina Dolls: Ancestor Spirit Carvings examines historical changes in the production of Katsina doll carvings, as well as issues of cultural and intellectual property related to the introduction of these important carvings into the international art market in the twentieth century.

Katsinas are spirit beings who guide and protect the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona and, at times, chastise them. The Hopi say that some Katsinas are ancestors returned to provide life-sustaining rain, prosperity, fertility, and health. Katsinas can appear as animal and plant figures, like lizards and cacti; human characters like chiefs, ogres, and clowns; or as concepts, like the swaying of a corn plan in the wind before a rainstorm.

Katsinas are also carved cottonwood dolls. Originally made exclusively for Hopi use, Katsina dancers give the dolls to children at dances. They are intended both as prayers for long life and well being, and as a way to help children remember the various kinds of Katsinas. Anthropologists and collectors began to acquire Hopi katsina dolls in the late 1800s, when railroads, prospecting, and farming brought non-Hopi in increasing numbers to the Hopi mesa region. Hopi artists, at that time, also started carving for the needs of this new market, yet these dolls' makers are generally unknown to museums and collectors. Since the 1950s, katsina dolls have become increasingly popular with non-Hopi collectors. Some have become extremely valuable in the Native American art market and specific carvers have become known for their mastery.

The interest shown by international markets, museums, and collectors in katsina dolls raises complex questions for the Hopi and others. Who should be allowed to represent Katsinas or to own katsina dolls? Some Hopi worry that sales may contribute to the commodification of Hopi religion and culture. Others feel that the market has helped to sustain or even enrich the art of katsina doll carving, while, at the same time, providing income for carvers and a greater understanding of Hopi culture in the outside world. How should Hopi leaders, carvers, anthropologists, art dealers, collectors, and museums represent the meaning of important cultural symbols like these? Hopi Katsina Dolls: Ancestor Spirit Carvings encourages you to explore these issues in the presence of katsina dolls from the Haffenreffer Museum's collections, carved by known and unknown masters.

Prior to the exhibition's opening, Hopi carver Manfred Susunkewa (pictured at right) demonstrated the art of katsina doll carving at the Haffenreffer Museum, stressing the importance of the dolls for Hopi children and adults learning about their own culture. Six of his dolls, and the tools used to create one of them at the museum, are included in the exhibition. They join an array of traditional 19th and early 20th century katsina dolls by artists whose names remain anonymous to us, as well as more recent carvings by Wilson Tawaquaptewa, Floyd Nutumya, Delano Nuvayestawa, Clark Tenakhongva, Aaron Honanie, Earnest Chapella, Adrian Poleahla, Cimmaron G., Neil David, Sr., Lowell Talashoma, Sr., Joe Gash (Gashwazra), Jeff Polewytewa, and Wilfred Tewawina.

Hopi Katsina Dolls: Ancestor Spirit Carvings was curated by Barry Walsh, a long-time researcher of Hopi culture, assisted by Peter Lape and Nanobah Becker (Navajo), graduate and undergraduate students, respectively, in Anthropology at Brown University.