Molas--New and Old

Molas have been a fiber art that I've appreciated for many years. My father was in the Foreign Service and was stationed in Panama for about 6 years in the 60's and 70's. While there, he would travel by boat to the San Blas Islands and visit with the Indian women who created this wonderful type of needlework. The thing about my father was that he was someone who absolutely loved to go through the process of bargaining about a potential purchase--which is exactly what the craftspeople expected. He would stop thinking about time and schedule and just enjoy the conversation. During the course of their time in Panama, my parents built quite an extensive collection of these molas--and they have come to me in recent years. It is a gift that I treasure above most others.

My sister has always had the traveling bug and Panama is one of the places that she has revisted in the last couple of years. Since she knew of my passion for molas, she sent me several. One of which I decided to use as a new cover for a stool in my studio. You can see here the before and after. This is typical of the newer molas that are now being produced. They are generally appliqued in the manner of our needleturn method and have a more sophisticated appearance than earlier molas.

These are some examples of older molas--at least 30 years old--maybe more. There is a lot of reverse applique on these and the themes are quite diferent from the more recent work. One of the things that I have really enjoyed with some of the older pieces is they way in which the Indians looked at life around them and interpreted it in fabric. It can be seen in this example that seems to be a beer label. The maker was spelling out the word "cervesa" but obviously ran out of room before she got to the "a." I have others that relate to political campaigns and helicopters flying overhead. And they would have seen many helicopters most likely because the United States still was in charge of the Canal Zone at that time.

So I suppose that these molas were a true example of folk art at its finest and I'm glad that they are still being made today even though the style and emphasis may have changed through the years. And there are also some modern American quilters who are including this same type of applique in their work. I'm glad because I think it is joyful and celebratory-- both of the past and the present.