Sister Corita

I am sure you have probably seen this on Design Observer or heard about her, but I wanted to post about one of my heroes, Sister Corita Kent.

She was born in Iowa and entered the sisterhood in the Immaculate Heart community in Los Angeles at age 18. The Catholic church was going through some changes and things were a bit more liberal, so the sisters and brothers of the community were artists and activists and such as well. Sister Corita was an artist who created amazing screenprinted posters that while infused with her faith, broached larger topics like love and peace (no doubt the community around her loved this being california in the 60s.) Her Ten Rules for the art department at Immaculate Heart College have been passed around by many in the creative community. There is alot of truth in what she says, (she seems to have been what many teachers try to be today), and it is a cool piece in itself. She broke away from the Sisterhood to move to Boston to be a full-time artist and continued to create her amazing pieces.

I find it surprising that I never heard her name mentioned in my design history classes (at Parsons, no less!) as we learned about Seymour Chwast and Victor Moscoso. Granted one started pushpin and the other had a large influence over the psychedelic scene, but so did she and is just as respected by those who know her work. Maybe I am just ignorant of her influence prior to being told of her by a few teachers. Maybe I slept through/skipped the week Alvin Grossman said something about her or was daydreaming when she was brought up in history of graphic design, but its a shame that she isn't mentioned on par with other designer/illustrators. Julie Ault put together her mongraph "Come Alive! The Spirited Art of Sister Corita" which several teachers have shown me in studio class. Maybe she is discussed in illustration history classes, I am not sure. There needs to be a big show of her work in the near future, as I have seen her work being talked about for awhile now, and if the Whitney can put on a show of psychadelic art, then she should get some larger recognition. Even if you despise the idea of god, or even moreso the Catholic idea of god, the work is powerful & beautiful enough to appreciate.

Design Observer article and slideshow on Sister Corita

Wikipedia article on Sister Corita

Corita Art Center

Amazon: Come Alive!

Sister Corita's Ten Rules

It goes to show you that not everything is going to be fed to you in the proper class at school and the more you explore the more you find.