Kai-Sa

Percy Sandy (Kai-Sa) was born in 1918 on the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico.  As a child, when Sandy first tried painting at school in Zuni, he amazed his teachers with his talent. His grandfather called him Kai Sa, and said his grandson would become an artist. Kai Sa went on to study art at the Indian School in Santa Fe but was largely self-taught. As a young adult, he illustrated books, including “Sun Journey” by Ann Nolan Clark, and was known as a muralist as well as a painter. His paintings of people, animals, and plants are detailed and striking.

In 1947 Kai-Sa had a solo exhibition at the Blue Door Art Gallery, which traveled to the Ebell Galleries in Los Angeles. Kai-Sa’s work is in collections at the Gilcrease Institute and the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona; the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Northern Arizona; the Museum of New Mexico; and the United Pueblo Agency in New Mexico.