A Room With Avanyu: Massive Water Serpent Found in Hotel!

Keeva by Ehren Kee Natay at Nativo Lodge in Albuquerque

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Ehren Natay is a jewelry maker with street-artist DNA — and for a recent project at the Nativo Lodge in Albuquerque he let his flair for outrageous oversize images run wild. He was selected to design one of four “Artist Guest Rooms,” and Natay summoned the Tewa deity Avanyu, guardian of water, who takes the form of a water serpent with horns and feathers. Natay chose to paint Avanyu in a Japanese style, with the serpent suggestive of a Yakuza dragon tattoo and the churning water reminiscent of a Hokusai woodblock print. On another wall, a cartoony Pojoaque Pueblo-style Buffalo Dancer holds a bow and casts a watchful eye on Avanyu. Over the bed is a photograph of Natay himself wearing a mask of his own construction, printed on metal.

For more information on the project, titled “Keeva,” visit the Nativo Lodge’s Facebook page and the New Mexico Travel Blog.