Colleen Talahytewa

Born in 1968 in Moenkopi, Colleen Talahytewa is still very young, but she has made a name as a kachina-doll carver, besides being a wife and the mother of six small children.

Colleen was introduced to kachina-doll carving by her family while she was growing up.  Her father, Stacy Talahytewa, has carved dolls for sale for thirty years, providing all 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.  Colleen’s mother, Louise, is from Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico, where women do not carve kachina dolls.  All five brothers and six of Colleen’s seven sisters carve kachina dolls.  Colleen and her brothers and sisters grew up seeing their parents carve for an income, so it was natural for her to pick up the craft when she was in her teens and to earn money from it.

Her dolls are larger than her father’s - about ten inches high - and they are very well proportioned and finely executed and painted.  She uses linseed oil to close the pores of the wood and then paints over it with acrylic paints, leaving some parts, such as the kilt, unpainted to simulate the light color of cotton.  Like her father, she carves arms and legs separately and glues them to the body.  The only organic material she uses is chicken feathers on top of the head.  Colleen goes with her family to shows and Indian markets to sell her dolls or sells them directly to buyers who come to her house.