Distant Cousin: Panama

Showing posts with label Panama. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Would you believe? Ana found a mola store!

Frequent visitors to Ana Darcy's blog know of Ana's love of the folk arts and textile arts of Earth. She visits every exhibit she can find of folk toys, dia de los muertos artifacts, paintings, arpilleras (textile sculptures), and molas from Panama (essentially folk paintings with fabric). We have covered many of these here.

One post, on the mola, elicited a comment from a woman in Panama who sells molas online. Florymola.com is a lovely website with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of molas on sale, plus information about the art form, the women who create them, and more.

We couldn't help it: we had to order some. They measure about 10 x 15 inches (25 x 40 cm) and are pictured below, front and back. At the same time very simple yet extremely intricate, they are immensely creative and colorful: totally unique, lovely art.

They could be framed, made into cushions, handbags, or added to clothing to stunning effect. They weren't expensive: only about $10 each. They mail all over the world. Mail to the United States takes three to six weeks.

We wouldn't be surprised if Ana Darcy accumulates quite a collection--but she'll do it under an alias, of course!

(Click for a full-size slide show.)

A frog

Two birds

Birds and...a bat?

http://www.florymola.com

(See the first paragraph above for links to other posts to Ana's favorite folk art.)

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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Wearable art from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico!

We have mentioned elsewhere that the people on Ana Darcy Méndez's home planet, Thomo, are fond of decoration and the arts. In a forthcoming post we will show some samples of ancient art originating from the historical area on Earth her people are believed to have come from.

We have also mentioned that Ana has been taken by the arts on Earth, and particularly by textile art. (See below for examples of arpilleras (textile sculptures) and molas (amazing fabric creations from the Kuna people of Panama).

Now we have some examples of wearable art from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador. We could not ask Ana to send photographs of her own clothing, but friends of hers have very kindly allowed us to present some examples of theirs, with our very grateful thanks.

It's easy to see why Ana would love these creations. They are colorful, immensely creative, beautifully human, lively, unique, and not least important, comfortable to wear!

Note: these photos are generously sized. Click any to enlarge!

Above, a huípil from Guatemala. Below, nine items from Mexico.

A jacket from Mexico (one of Ana's very favorites):

Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico (left to right):

Guatemala, Mexico, Guatemala (each photo):

Molas, from Panama: part 1, part 2

Arpilleras from Ecuador & Peru, part 1, part 2, part 3

The art of Claudia Quintero

Mexican dolls: handmade folk art!

Meet the fascinating woman from the planet Thomo who loves all this art.

Investigate Ana's innovative recipes and favorite poems, too, in the column on the right, and also her ideas on education, aliens on Earth (ahem), her favorite shoes, photographs from sites of her adventures, and much more!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ana discovers the mola, from Panama!

(All these photos can be clicked for greater detail.)

You might find it strange that a woman from another planet should be interested in exotic textiles and stitchery on Earth, but you really shouldn't. After all, her own people on Thomo have a long tradition of textile styles and patterns, which in some ways resemble those of Eastern Europe, with colorful patterns and layers of frills. Not surprisingly, Ana has been fascinated by textiles which spring from Hispanic cultures, one of which she has married into!

Once her life on Earth settled down a bit and she had a household and time to devote to it, Ana was delighted to pursue her curiosity about out planet's diverse offerings in many fields, including art and textiles. Most recently, we have posted information about the South American textile sculptures called arpilleras, made from Chile to Ecuador and Bolivia. This time, Ana has discovered the Panamanian mola, the riotously colorful and beautiful two-dimensional multi-layered textile creations of the Kuna people living on islands in the Gulf of Mexico on the eastern side of Panama. Some of these can be worn, and Ana wears several!

The photo above, from Wikipedia, shows a Kuna woman displaying a number of her gorgeous creations. Below are the first molas Ana ever saw, in the community room of a church she attended. Each has a Biblical theme: Jonah and the whale, and Noah's ark. Below each is a detail photo revealing the extremely fine stitching that produced them. In some cases, a colorful bit of material is appliqued over another. In others, the top layer is cut to reveal the colored layer underneath. More examples may clarify matters.

The technique of covering different colors with another one is seen in the next two molas. The first is of five animals. Note the ruler on the left, to show the scale. The second is a fish, also with a ruler for scale, and a detail for a closer look.

Ana's rudimentary sewing skills, sharpened by her husband's grandmother, enabled her to piece together several molas to turn into a shirt. Ana was encouraged to try this by the knowledge that Kuna women also recycle their work, often selling the older pieces to tourists. Here's such a project:

And here is a piece of fabric with three small mola designs, turned over to reveal the stitching on both undersides. Can anyone not understand Ana's fascination with this beautiful, ingenious technique?