Molas in full color

On April 11, students enrolled in Maya Stanfield-Mazzi's spring Art History course, Indigenous Arts of the Colonial Americas, examined Panamanian molas first-hand to understand their complex appliqué techniques. The molas are housed in UF Library's Special Collections and are part of the Panama Canal Museum Collection. Students read about the creation and use of molas by Guna (Kuna) women in Panama, and about their commercialization to tourists. Then they were able to look at individual pieces and assess their techniques, age and function.