Ogre Kachina by Manuel Chavarria

Manuel “Bob” Chavarria, from First Mesa at Hopi, is a carver  of “Old-Style” Traditional Hopi Kachinas. These kachinas are carved from cottonwood into the simple, minimal shapes of  the earliest  kachinas with very simple bodies, arms and legs. The identifying  details of each kachina are faithfully added using paint, feathers, fur and other materials to the masks, headdresses, and apparel. This doll is the Ogre Kachina, who, in preparation for a Katsina dance, travels through the village in pursuit of food to take to the kivas for the dancers.  They threaten the children to take them away and eat them with their huge snouts, but children’s parents bargain with the Ogres and offers food instead of the children, to save the day.

This ogre is made of cottonwood, with canvas fabric scraps, twine, turn, and hair; his horrible face, robe and horns are painted with natural pigments and finished in Chavarria’s signature “distressed” manner, circa 1990s, 10 inches tall.