4th Grade Paper Molas

In art 4^th graders learned about beautiful fabric art called Molas. Mola art developed when Kuna women of the San Blas Islands in Panama had access to bright color fabric. Molas are cloth panels that form part of a blouse for the Kuna women and today are also created to sell as decoration. The Kuna women use a quilting technique of layering and sewing colored fabric together to create beautiful images of animals and plants. After showing the students examples of molas they created paper molas based on traditional designs of the Kuna culture. Students drew an animal and then cut and layered different colors to create an animal mola.  Students then decorated on and around their animal by cutting out and arranging different patterns. They created symmetrical patterns by layering repeating colors and shapes.

Beautiful Art 4^th Grade!