Fred Kabotie (Nakayoma)
Hopi Pueblo, Second Mesa, 1900-1986
Fred Kabotie was born into a highly traditional Hopi family at Songo`opavi, Second Mesa, Arizona, Kabotie. His father belonged to the sun clan and he belonged to the Bluebird Clan. His Hopi name was Naqavo'ma, meaning "the sun coming up day after day"; however, his paternal grandfather gave him the nickname Qaavotay, meaning "tomorrow." His teacher at Toreva Day School spelled his nickname "Kabotie," which stuck with him for the rest of his life.
After his spotty attendance at the local day school, Kabotie was forced to attend the Santa Fe Indian School, where he says, "I was supposed to discard all my Hopi belief, all my Hopi way of life, and become a white man and become a Christian." English was the only language students were allowed to speak. John DeHuff became superintendent of the school and went against the prevailing government policy of suppressing Native cultures. Elizabeth DeHuff, John's wife, taught painting to students from the school, beginning with Kabotie. Missing his home, Kabotie painted katsinas and sold his first painting for 50 cents to the school's carpentry teacher.
Because of his encouragement of Native cultures, John DeHuff was demoted from his post and forced to leave the school. He convinced Kabotie to continue his education at Santa Fe Public High School.
After graduation in the 1920s, the Museum of New Mexico hired Kabotie to paint and bind books for a salary of $60 per month. Elizabeth DeHuff hired him to illustrate books. The George Gustav Heye Center in New York City commissioned a series of paintings depicting Hopi ceremonies, and he sold works to private collectors. He primarily painted with watercolor on paper.
In 1930, Kabotie moved back to Shungopavi, where he lived for most of his life. 1930, Kabotie moved back to Shungopavi, where he lived for most of his life. He was initiated into the Wuwtsimt men's society and married Alice Talayaonema.
Mary Colter commissioned him to paint murals in her Desert View Watchtower in 1933. In 1937, a high school opened for Hopi students and Kabotie taught painting there for 22 years (1937–1959). He was an advisor at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, where he curated a show of Native American art.
In 1940, he was commissioned to reproduce the prehistoric murals at Awatovi Ruins at the Museum of Modern Art. He won the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1945, which enabled him to study Mimbres pottery and write the book, Designs From the Ancient Mimbreños.
The Museum of Northern Arizona encouraged Kabotie and his cousin Paul Saufkie (1898–1993) to develop a jewelry style unique to Hopi people. They developed an overlay technique, distinct from Zuni and Navajo silversmithing. They created designs inspired by traditional Hopi pottery. A friend and benefactor, Leslie Van Ness Denman commissioned Kabotie's first piece of jewelry as a gift to Eleanor Roosevelt.
The Indian Service and GI Bill funded jewelry classes at the museum for returning Hopi veterans of World War II. Kabotie taught design and Saufkie taught technique. To showcase their students' work, they created the Hopi Silvercraft Cooperative Guild in 1949, which has a shop on Second Mesa today.
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