A traditional mola is a picture made of cloth by the Kuna people from the San Blas Islands of Panama in Central America. The Kuna women and girls make molas to decorate their clothes (the word mola means shirt in the Kuna language). They also sew beautiful mola artwork to sell on the world market.
A mola is made out of several layers of cloth stitched together. Holes are cut in each layer to reveal layers of colourful cloth underneath. Some molas have patches of fabric sewn into the patterns. The bottom layer is the background color and supports the stitching of all the other layers.
Students can make a replica of a mola artwork of coloured paper as they learn about the Kuna people and Central America.
Simple natural or animal shapes are both traditional and geometric and fascinating for students. A bird, lizard, fish or turtle is a good subject, or a large tropical flower or leaf. The shape is sketched on a piece of colour paper and then cut out to create a design template.
[gallery columns="2"]Student explored and created new motifs and forms from cut paper. They then placed the motifs as a composition upon a suitable background which is aesthetic. Then three or four sheets of construction paper in colors that complement each other were stacked together. The pattern is replicated with a scissors through the motif on the top onto the sheets beneath. Similarly other shapes were also made and then mounted together with glue.
Simple material and basic methods make for magical mounts as was seen in the art room making the molas!
Filed by Ms. Saswati Dutta.
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