Hopitutuqaiki Art School Opportunity Quilt up for raffle, winner selected in July

Hopitutuqaiki Art School located on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation will raffle off its annual Opportunity Quilt at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona on July 13. Rosanda Suetopka/NHO

Hopitutuqaiki Art School located on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation will raffle off its annual Opportunity Quilt at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona on July 13. Rosanda Suetopka/NHO

HOTEVILLA, Ariz. - The Hopitutuqaiki 2014 quilters, along with their master quilter mentor Linda Visnaw, created a stunning quilt this year that will be the top prize in their annual Hopitutuqaiki School Opportunity Quilt raffle.

The winner will be announced in July at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona during the annual Indian Art Show July 12-13.

This year's quilt is titled "Hopi Yuusi," which means "Hopi traditional clothing." The 65" by 65" all cotton quilt has exquisitely detailed top stitching which raises the entire value of the quilt as a true art piece. The quilt has been appraised at $3,750.

The quilt highlights designs, traditional colors and placement of patterns that are within Hopi traditional clothing such as woven caps, dresses, sashes, and kilts worn by Hopis during traditional, cultural ceremonies.

The intricate quilting utilizes symbols of Hopi tradition like corn being grown by Hopi men annually, prayer feathers, rain clouds, local Hopi indigenous flowers, kachinas, butterfly maidens and Tawa (the sun).

The Hopitutuqaiki (the Hopi School) that will benefit from the raffle sale of this quilt is dedicated to developing an educational process derived from Hopi Indian philosophy, values and methods.

Before the Hopitutuqaiki was established, Hopi students were taught in Anglo-dominant schools using values, philosophy and methods that were designed for and derived from an outside culture.

To date, there are only a handful of schools that focus their school mission using Native students' own culture, values, background and cultural and language strengths as the basis of the school's foundation, curriculum and educational process.

The 2014 Hopi Yuusi Quilt has already been shown at Lake Havasu, Kingman and Flagstaff and at one national quilting show this year.

The quilt will be hung and shown at the Hopi Show at the Museum of Northern Arizona during the July 4 weekend in Flagstaff for people to get an up close and in person look at the intricate stitching detail.

The final winner of the raffle will be drawn at the Sharlot Hall Museum Native Indian Art Show July 12-13 in Prescott, Arizona.

Raffle tickets may be purchased online by going to the school website: www.Hopischool.net.

Prices for raffle tickets are: $1 each or six tickets for $5.

More information about class schedule and programs is available from Dr. Robert Rhodes, school facilitator, at (928) 734-2358.

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