Tony Dallas Mudhead Story Teller Hopi & Tewa

Mud head Story Teller by Tony Dallas 

Dimensions:-

Height: 5 1/5” 

Width: 5”

Tribe: Hopi, Tewa

Item #: 400069 

Tony Dallas

Tony Dallas born 1956 into the Hopi Pueblo, creates contemporary unique koshare and mudhead story tellers from clay. From a young age (16), Tony was interested in pottery, and began seriously crafting in clay in 1982 while observing his mother-in-law Lucy R. Suina, after he married into the Cochiti Pueblo in the early 1980’s. 

Tony’s style combines the ancient traditional ways of making pottery and sculpture with a unique contemporary style.  “I started to hand coil a regular storyteller. Then, I thought for a moment, Mudheads and Koshare clowns also tell stories and they are so humorous to me. So I began experimenting with different styles of storytellers using my creative imagination to construct them,” says Tony.

Found in Hopi and other Pueblo cultures, these clowns (Koshare) use humor and social commentary to maintain harmony and community values. 

Seen in most Hopi ceremonies, the Mudhead storytellers play the role of entertainment and laughter at the Hopi dances. They drum, dance, play games and may act as announcers for events. They often give prizes or rewards for the races and guessing games they organize. The term “mudhead” comes from their masks which surround their heads and have mud applied to them.