Collection: Felino Eriacho

Eri-acho

Felino Eriacho began carving in 1980 after graduating from high school in Zuni. His earliest works were antler carvings, primarily of owls and birds with distinctive beaks. He learned from his grandfather, Andrew Weahkee, as well as his uncles, Roger Tsabatsaye and Will McKaye. As a youth, Felino spent his summers alone in the Zuni Reservation mountains, herding his family's sheep. This time in the wilderness taught him the lay of the land and the habits of the native animals, and allowed him to discover local resources like fluorite, azurite, and travertine. In the mid-1980s, Felino studied mechanics at TVI and worked as a civilian at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. However, he returned to Zuni permanently in 1987. There, he began carving Kachinas from cottonwood and fetishes from the stone he had learned to source on the reservation - fluorite, azurite, travertine, and chert.