Mavasta Honyouti is a skilled Hopi Katsina carver from Hotevilla Third Mesa; He is Ronald Honyouti’s son and Clyde Honyouti’s Grandson, both skilled Hopi Katsina carvers.  He is well known for his scenes carved in low-relief.  This piece is entitled “Imperfect Beauty”.  It is one of his wooden “vessels”.  Mavasta said he had a cottonwood root that had a deep crack in it and he wanted to use it on one of his pieces.  All the imagery on the jar is about the beauty that surrounds us. There are butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, rainclouds, lightning, and katinsa designs.  The wood has a fissure on one side and a knot on the other and he carved through around them.  Mavasta said that “Beauty isn’t about perfection.  The world isn’t perfect. But we are surrounded by so much beauty that sometimes we miss it pointing out the imperfections.”  The jar is that striking combination of complex design with the natural wood and an artist who can see through the imperfection to make it, well, nearly perfect!  The piece is painted after the carving. It is signed, “M. Honyouti”. 

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