Kachina Doll Show at Pasadena Center

Time was, when the spirits dwelt among the Hopi Indians. As the role they played became taken for granted, the spirits, it is said--the kachinas--left the villages to live by themselves in the mountains of Northern Arizona. In time, they relented; now they pay frequent visits to the Hopi mesas to mediate with the gods on behalf of the tribe: for fertility, for rain. . . . The occasions are marked by lustrous ceremony, centering around ritual dances in which the Hopis don elaborate costumes representing the spirits.

The dancers, themselves now called kachinas, dress as animals, natural objects, elements--or rather the spiritual essences thereof. To introduce Hopi children to the rituals, as well as to instruct them and imbue them with the qualities of particular spirits (cunning, courage, speed, strength), dolls are carved as teaching tools.

Sacred to the Hopi

Centuries ago, the dolls themselves were part of the ceremony. Some still are, and as such are sacred to the Hopi. The educational kachinas, though, the small replicas of the dancing braves used to teach children, sometimes are sold.

Exquisite kachina dolls will be on display today and Sunday at the American Indian and Western Relic Show and Sale at Exhibition Hall of the Pasadena Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Carved from a single piece of Arizona cottonwood--most often the root--the dolls sell for $75 or $100 up to $15,000, depending on size, intricacy, adornment and artistic stature of the Hopi artist.

Along with the dolls, silver and turquoise jewelry, pottery, blankets, beadwork and other traditional Indian arts will be on display and for sale--including the work of Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall of the Chippewa Tribe.

Nordwall, who fashions art from stone, is particularly noted for his calumets, or peace pipes--the techniques for which he learned at a sacred Minnesota quarry from masters of the ancient craft. After a successful career as a businessman, Nordwall was elected as an official “pipe holder,” endowing him with the right to conduct peace-pipe ceremonies. Soon afterward, he retired from business to pursue art full-time on the Shoshone reservation in Nevada (wife Bobby is a Shoshone).

Over time, Nordwall has developed an unusual, no-sketch stone-sculpting technique, which “brings forth,” in his own words, “the stone people.”

Part of Nordwall’s oeuvre will be on sale at the Pasadena show; the artist will be on hand to demonstrate.

The show runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children 6 to 12 and free for youngsters under 6.