Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund

Hunter (Ahote) Kachina. Artist Orin Poley. This Kachina appears in the mixed dances and is probably derived from Plains Native Tribes influence. The figure is carved from one piece of cottonwood root. He raises his PR leg and arm. He holds a painted wooden snake in that hand and the snake wraps around to the left side of his head. His PL arm is lowered and holds a bow from which dangle a white feather on each end. The PL leg has a string tie with metal bells tied onto it. He wears a long trailer style war bonnet of feathers carved from wood and panted white with black tips. His entire body is painted blue with black four point stars on his shoulders and chest and the front of his mask. His mask style is rounded with a short snout, teeth showing. His face has black and red triangular designs, goggle eyes and large red ears with narrow feathers thrust through the ears horizontally. He wears a carved wooden simulated hide skirt with a belt with a pouch and a traditional style Hopi sash (carved). He wears carved red and blue boots with red tops. Across his chest is a string bandolier with shells and turquoise beads.

This type of wooden sculpture could be given in a potlatch. Old photographs show them wearing blankets over their torsos. It is a standing male figure with facial features clearly marked. Roll of hair or headdress on top of head.

Powerfully modeled figure of a deer curled up.(center front in photo) Legs are abbreviated, indicated by lumps. Tail is a simple knob. Four holes (two on each side) on top of head, presumably originally held ears and antlers. Two nostrils and mouth lightly incised.

The sculpture is an oversized standing wood figure called a speaker figure that would have been placed outside a house where, through its hollow mouth, the chief's orator would make announcements for the community. The figure stands with its arms attached to its body and arms and legs bent. The head is oversized in proportion to the body and the neck is short. Wide bands of black eyebrows overhang large almond-shaped eyes. Nose is long and triangular; mouth is large and open. On the chin is a carved and painted goatee. Condition of object is fair. Surface wear overall with spongy wooden areas throughout. Second photograph is the figure in situ in the village in Smith Inlet.

The sculpture is a contemporary version of the traditional storyteller figure with an ironic twist. It makes a dual statement on the production of traditional-style pottery for the Santa Fe Indian Market, for sale as well as on the Pueblo potter's desire to create something lasting for generations to come. A Pueblo woman sits with her legs and arms outstretched in front of her. The figure's face resembles Roxanne Swentzell, the artist responsible for the sculpture. Her eyes look up towards the Santa Clara black pot balanced on her head. Two babies emerge from the pot. One is shown half way out, the other with its head poking up. A third baby stands on the woman's shoulder and is reaching towards one of the babies coming from the pot. A fourth baby sits on the Pueblo woman's lap with an expression of deep contentment. Making babies and making pots are equated, perhaps to protest how indigenous people themselves and their traditions are often considered as if commodities, to be purchased by non-Native people at commercial Indian Markets throughout the Southwest. The entire piece is a tour-de-force of workmanship, a hand formed sculpture that merges two worlds, the time-honored and the modern. The entire surface of the work is highly polished and is in excellent condition.

This ball headed war club has a metal spike on the ball. A design formed by tacks running along the edges and along the center is the motif on one side. The other side has an engraved floral design through the center with black and red pigment inside the grooves. Tacks also run along the edge of this side. Many of these clubs were used by men more for prestige, being carried similar to a cane, than for warfare.

Bequest of W.S. Morton Mead

Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund

This mat is paired with 05.588.7348-gambling bag and sticks. The design on the gambling mat is a killer whale identifiable by its blow hole and flukes. When the game is played the sticks are thrown down on the exterior of the mat one by one. The painting style resembles that of the Heiltsuk people, living near Kitkatla where this was collected.