Molas
Art of the Native-Central American Kuna People
by Shelley Schoby
This week in art, students were introduced to a the vocabulary word
tolerance. The Kuna people from the San Blas Islands in Central
American have very different values and customs than from people in
the U.S.A.. We all decided, we are really happy we live in the
United States of America.
The Kuna people revere artists, and believe they have a special place in heaven. Many years ago the Kunas painted their bodies with abstract symbols and designs. Passing ships started trading fabric for bananas, sugar cane and cocoa. With the availability of fabric artists started creating their designs on this surface rather than their skin. These designs became known as molas (meaning cloth). Mola is the art of layering different colored fabric and then securing them with minute stitches. The design is then drawn on the top piece. The colors appear after artists cut down to the chosen color. Edges are folded under and secured with additional stitches. There is a lot of depth in a mola because of the cutting away of fabric.
Art students chose an object for their design that was important to them. Patterned designs filled each symbol and background. Students used a variety of colors on their mola. Each student was careful to create unity while placing their colors. Finally, students created depth in their mola by adding yarn. The yarn also defined the edges of their symbol.
