As we continue this 10th anniversary survey of pieces in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I'm featuring another work this week depicting the Creation story in the Book of Genesis--this time by an unknown textile artist from the Kuna People, who live in the San Blas Archipelago off the northwestern coast of Panama. I have set myself two guidelines in searching for art during the past ten years. The works must be devoted to sacred themes and produced in the "modern" era, which I date from 1900, give or take a decade. Collecting within these boundaries, I have welcomed all types of pieces into my listings--fine art, folk art, outsider art, and decorative art--creating a special Schools of Sacred Art section to accommodate works by unknown artists and artisans who follow established creative traditions. This week's delightful image of our first ancestors in Paradise belongs to this category. Originally made as decorations for blouses, these fabric faith and fashion statements, known as molas (from the Kuna word for “shirt” or “clothes”), depict stories from the Bible on cut-out and embroidered layers of cloth. For more details, visit the Molas of the Kuna People page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)
