Rainy Naha is well known for her creative and intricately designed pottery.  This jar is a new design for her with four Hopi inspired katsinas.  There are two female Hemis Mana figures on one side and an old-style male Hemis katsina on the other.

“The Hemis Katsina, originally from Jemez Pueblo, appears at Niman, the Home-Going Ceremony that takes place after the summer solstice. This Katsina plays an important role in the harvest by bringing rain for the crops. He brings the first corn of the harvest to the villagers during the Niman Ceremony, symbolizing a bountiful season to come.  The Hemis Katsina wears a ruff of spruce around his neck and has symbols of friendship painted on his body. Spruce fronds are typically carried in one hand and a rattle in the other. He wears an embroidered kilt with a red sash draped around his waist and down his right side. The Hemis Katsina is most recognizable for his fancy headdress, called a tableta. This tableta is adorned in feathers and symbols related to the rain and harvest.,   The “Hemis Mana” is the female version of the Hemis Katsina”

The Hemis Mana (or female) figures are both painted in a more traditional style.  They have their hair in Hopi whirls and wearing a shawl. The male figure on the opposite side is painted in the older style with a more linear and elaborate headdress (or tablita).  One the sides of the panel are corn plants.  Separating the two sections of figures are bands of Hopi-Tewa designs.  Each of the squares has a different design from classic Hopi-Tewa pottery. The jar is painted with various clay slips along with bee-weed, which is black.  It was traditionally fired and it is signed on the bottom with a feather and “Rainy”.  Rainy has won numerous awards for her pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Market and her work continues to be a creative inspiration in Hopi-Tewa pottery.