Mola’s
I taught how to make Mola’s my first 2 years of teaching, but haven’t done it in 3 years, so I thought now was the time. There is a great lesson plan at the Incredible Art Department and at Dick Blick under their multi-cultural lesson plans Professor Wimberly has a great .pdf file on the net of the History of the Cuna Indians and their Mola making.
What are Mola’s? Molas are women’s blouses made by the Kuna of northeastern Panama. The mola tradition is only about a hundred years old, but it is very important to the identity of the Kuna. The patterns originated in body paint and are made of many layers of bright cloth cut and stitched to create complex designs. The designs are often based on plants and animals and even events that are important in the lives of the Kuna as well as on things from the outside world, like Tony the Tiger from cereal boxes and images from basketball games or from greeting cards. This mola uses red, yellow and blue, colors that were used in body painting. –Marty, Potawatomi
An excellent website is the Art of Being Kuna @ the National Museum of the American Indian.
There is an article that needs some work on Wikipedia on the Cuna Indians.
We will be using scissors to make our Mola’s because I don’t have enough X-acto knifes.
mola
