By Ed Kabotie
Fred Kabotie is among the first artists of the modern Native American Arts & Crafts movement. Born on Second Mesa, Arizona, in 1900 to the Hopi Bluebird Clan, Kabotie was originally named “Nakavoma” (Day After Day) by his paternal aunts of the Sun Clan. His traditional upbringing was disrupted in 1906 by the arrest of his father, Lolomayaoma, and other Hopi leaders who refused to send their children to school. At the age of 15, Nakavoma was sent to the Santa Fe Indian School where his name was “officially” changed to Fred Kabotie.


