Sister Corita Booklet

r s i t e s c o r i ta

SISTER CORTIA KENT The lovely Corita Kent began her journey into the ar t scene by entering the religious order at the Immaculate Hear t of Mary in 1936. It is here that she taught herself silk screening, falling in love with creating work as well as the ar t of teaching ar t. Her early work consists of abstract, layered imager y of a mostly religious nature until there was some push-back from the church. This moved her into a more pop a r t d i re c t i o n, n ow ex p e ri m e n t i ng wi th tex t a n d c o n s u m e ri s m i m age r y.

Corita wanted to meet people where they are while also bringing her own insight into view. She took consumer culture and injected spiritual messages that she identified with, making pieces that were so uniquely hers yet very easily interpreted by others. As extreme political turmoil shook the United States, Corita became her own form of activist feeling as though she needed to repor t more through her ar twork.

Strong commentar y regarding the Vietnam War and the liberation of minorities is quite literally spelled out in her works during this time.

In 1968 she decides to leave the Immaculate Hear t Order leading her to produce more simple and sweet works rooted deeply in nature and other spiritual traditions.

I have absolutely fallen for Corita’s work. Not only is her progression into pop ar t is fascinating to witness over time, but most poignant o f a l l i s h e r l ove fo r ex p e ri m e n t at i o n a n d s trive fo r b e a u t y. I t’s cl e a r Corita was ver y influenced by her environment and made it her goal to effectively share her feelings through ar t. Her iconic handwriting has a certain ease and beauty to it, almost as if it is her essence within each word she wrote. Much of the societal and cultural elements that she lived through have resur faced in new form recently and I find myself deeply identif ying with her messages. She always finds a way t o c o m e b a c k t o l o v e a n d t h a t w i l l r e s o n a t e w i t h m e f o r e v e r.