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 BOBBY
TALAHYTEWA -KACHINA CARVER
Bobby Talahytewa
comes from a family of very fine carvers. Bobby was born in Moenkopi.
He was introduced to Kachina-doll carving by his family while he
was growing up. His father Stacy Talahytewa, has carved dolls for
sale for thirty years, providing all of the family’s income
from his work. Stacy carves arms and legs separately, glues them
to the body of the carved doll and adorns the heads with chicken
or turkey feathers. His dolls are relatively small and are painted
over the whole body. Bobby’s mother, Louise, is from Cochiti
Pueblo in New Mexico, where women do not carve Kachina dolls. All
four brothers and 7 of Bobby’s 8 sisters carve kachina dolls.
Bobby and his brothers and sisters grew up seeing their parents
carve for an income, so it was natural for Bobby to pick up the
craft when he was in his teens and to earn money from it.
Bobby’s dolls are amazingly fine and usually out of one piece
of wood. He has an excellent style and finishes them with more detail
than most carvers. His carvings are very well proportioned and finely
executed and painted. Bobby also does an excellent job of using
motion in his carvings which is very difficult.
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