Hopi Katsina Dolls carved by Eli Taylor

                                                                     07/12/08

Dawa Sun Katsina

Tsa - Kwayna  Katsina

Horse Katsina

Welcome to my Web site!

Eli Taylor / (Tuy-Qaw-Va)

("The Sun Takes Precedence Over Land")

(Hopi, Greasewood Clan, active ca. 1966-present:

contemporary and traditional "Old Style" carvings.)

Eli was born in 1954 at the village of Oraibi on Third Mesa. Eli is the grandson of Lilly Hamana & Herbert Hamana; son of Dalton Taylor (Sun Clan) & Virginia Taylor ( Greasewood Clan); nephew of Walter Hamana; husband of Judy Taylor; father of DeAlva Ward, Audra Wilkinson; step-father of John Taylor.

  At the age of ten, Eli began carving thunder sticks.  He sold the first one for 25 cents.  Two years later, age twelve, a Hopi elder helped him carve his first Katsina doll.  Later his Uncle Walter Hamana advised him on how to improve his carving techniques.  Eli added, "Anthony Honahnie, the Hopi painter, also taught me about anatomy." 

Eli commented on his artwork: "The hardest part of carving is deciding what to carve.  I select cottonwood roots carefully to match the Katsina I am going to carve, visualizing a completed carving inside the wood before I test my carving skills.  I feel there is a spirit that develops in my work and a part of myself is nurtured into the carving.  For this reason, happiness is vital to my work. As I carve, I sometimes sing to feel happy, thinking of rain, crops, animals and family.  This gives me a sense of warmth and goodwill.  To date, my Katsina dolls are traveling the world.  I often wonder which dolls are in what part of the world.  I pray that they have a good home, and I have not forgotten them.  My wife, Judy and I, give small offerings of food to feed the Katsina dolls, wherever they may be." 

At the 2006 Katsina Marketplace at the Heard Museum, Eli added: "I feel that I am preserving the history of the Hopi Katsina dolls in true form." 

 ..We made friends with Eli Taylor and his wife, Judy, at the 2004 Indian Market in Santa Fe.  He and Judy prayed for my wife, Angie, when she was in the hospital.  This act of kindness endeared Eli and Judy to our family forevermore.

Excerpt from "Hopi Katsina Dolls: 1,000 Artist Biographies" (CIAC Press, 2007) Gregory Schaaf (Reprinted with permission of author)