Alternate Views 
“Kachina Mana”
by Aaron Honanie, Hopi
Description: Wood stain and acrylic on cottonwood.
About this Award: Awarded to the katsina carving that best portrays adherence to traditional representation and use of materials.
Jurors’ Comments:
Martin Kim: There are a couple of characteristics about this figure that really draw me to it. One of them is actually the muddiness and the patina on her shoes. To me that kind of grounds the figure in a way that is more representational than I usually see in sculpture like this. But maybe even more so, I just love the hem of her skirt. This is a level of detail I’ve never seen in other carvings of this figure or any other for that matter. She has a pose that is not only dynamic for its asymmetry but it gives an animation to it. It’s as if for a moment her eye has caught something and you really see a response. Two other details of technical merit strike me. One is the deer scapula held in her right hand that would go with the use of the rasp in her left. It’s such an innocuous element but it’s such a culturally appropriate element to include that with this figure. I like that it has that kind of depth of content. And secondly, when I look at the base of her feathers I see behind them the other feathers. They’re just lightly carved in, suggested in a way that gives additional depth to this detail. It’s so important on these carvings.
Susan Folwell: Agreed with Martin that the award should go to Kachina Mana. (About the Runner-up, her initial choice, a butterfly and corn maiden wood sculpture, “Sunrise Harvest”) It’s very clear that it’s not traditional, especially the painting and the carving. But I do really just like the use of it. I think the shape is interesting, the undulating shape. Certainly the hand holding up the corn maiden is very untraditional. But I really do like the piece. And of all the pieces here, just to stand on merit, I think it’s very interesting.
Mark Bahti: Agreed with Martin that the award should go to Kachina Mana. (About the Runner-up, his initial choice, Deer Dancer) This is a Rio Grande style deer dancer. Those are the kind of deer antlers that only occur on deer that hunters dream about: more elk-like really. But it’s an aesthetically pleasing figure. That particular dancer is not one that you see done over and over again. So a part of it, the fact that it’s not a common one appeals to me. (About Susan’s initial choice, “Sunrise Harvest”) This one came very close for me. The only thing that threw me off were the feathers, they look more like flames. They should come to something approaching a point to the quill. That’s the only thing that disturbed me enough that it turned me from that. Otherwise it was interesting and I very much like the sculptural style.