Tasaf Kachina

Tasaf kachina is a Navajo God kachina.  

Painting is titled on verso.

John Farnsworth was born in northern Arizona in 1941. He has been captivated by Taos pueblo since his first visit at age nine.

After graduation from high school, he joined the Army and was stationed in Los Angeles, where he attended artist lectures and enrolled in the Famous Artists School’s correspondence course. Farnsworth moved to Flagstaff in 1962 where he worked briefly for the Northland Press and the Museum of Northern Arizona. He also spent time working and painting on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.

He has worked as a full time painter for over 40 years, in a wide range of media, primarily acrylic, oil and watercolors. Since 1978, he has used only primary colors to create his palette. His subjects range from people and places, to still life subjects and animals.

In 1971 Farnsworth relocated to New Mexico, where he still resides and paints in Taos. He was commissioned in 1983 by Wells Fargo Bank to create a 20 by 30 foot mural. The stagecoach mural, painted on 20 individual canvases, is now prominently displayed at the Phoenix International Airport. His work has appeared in Arizona Highways and The West: Artists and Illustrators.