Panama RPCV Mari Lyn Salvado brings an exhibit on the Kuna to the Museum of Man in San Diego



Mari Lyn Salvador first saw molas being sewn back in the 1960s, when she arrived in Panama as a Peace Corps worker. The hand-stitched blouses are pieces of art. Their elaborate designs depict items in the day-to-day lives of the Kuna people of Panama's coast.

Panama RPCV Mari Lyn Salvado brings an exhibit on the Kuna to the Museum of Man in San Diego

Exhibit celebrates decorative blouses
By Jeanette Steele

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 19, 2005

Caption: Museum of Man Executive Director Mari Lyn Salvador prepared a mola, a blouse made by the Kuna people of Panama, for an exhibit on "the importance of form and beauty for the Kuna in everyday life." Photo: DAVID BROOKS / Union-Tribune

Mari Lyn Salvador first saw molas being sewn back in the 1960s, when she arrived in Panama as a Peace Corps worker.

The hand-stitched blouses are pieces of art. Their elaborate designs depict items in the day-to-day lives of the Kuna people of Panama's coast.

Canoes. Gourds. Fish. Coming-of-age ceremonies. Even political figures and cereal boxes have become subjects.

Salvador, an artist and then-budding anthropologist, was fascinated by the tradition. Half of her life's work as a scholar became study of the Kuna.

"I was interested in the geometric patterns and how they came up with them and what the reference is," said Salvador, pointing to a gourd and then to a blouse depicting gourds.

Now, as director of the San Diego Museum of Man, Salvador has brought an exhibit on the Kuna to San Diego.

Opening Saturday, "The Art of Being Kuna" features hundreds of molas and 300 other pieces of Kuna handcraft, including baskets, wooden objects and gold jewelry.

The focus is "the importance of form and beauty for the Kuna in everyday life," Salvador said.

Two mola craftswomen from Panama and two Kuna elders will be in San Diego this weekend for the opening of the exhibit to demonstrate and discuss their culture.

The exhibit is part of the museum's celebration of its 90th anniversary. The museum building – along with its signature California Tower – was erected for the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition.

During the exposition, the building displayed artifacts from the Southwest and South America. Those items became the core of the permanent collection when a group of San Diegans founded a local museum of anthropology later that year. In 1942, it was officially named the San Diego Museum of Man.

Some of those original items again will be on display in "Passage to Panama," an exhibit of artifacts from native Panama cultures.

The show draws heavily on items gathered by San Diegans William and Evelyn Phillips, who traveled throughout Panama in the 1950s, collecting cultural items and taking photographs.

The museum has updated the exhibit by including recent artifacts and photos from as late as 2003.

Jeanette Steele: (619) 293-1030; jen.steele@uniontrib.com

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