During the 1960s , a woman named Corita Kent transubstantiate a petite artwork section in a Hollywood Catholic schooltime into a global center for intent and printmaking . She was brother with Buckminister Fuller and numerate IBM as a client . Oh yeah , and she was a nun !
The new bookSomeday is Now : The Art of Sister Corita(DelMonico Books / Prestel / Tang Museum ) is the first full - size of it monograph of the extremely influential artist and militant , featuring images from her studio as well as reproductions of her vibrant , almost neon posters and silkscreen .
Kent ’s body of work was unapologetically positive , disembowel divine guidance from scripture , advertising and the street of Los Angeles . Her photographic print sport phrases and graphic patterns that cribbed from cultural references and juxtapose high and low , techniques see in the study of contemporary artist from Andy Warhol to Shepard Fairey .
From 1947 to 1968 she learn art at the Immaculate Heart School in Los Angeles which became legendary under her instruction . In the unforesightful film Become a Microscope , Kent ’s students spill about how they visited cable car wash and supermarkets for brainchild . Each give the school celebrate Mary ’s Day , a community festival that feature elaborate costumes and decorations designed by the students . Kent also lease her classes on battleground trips to meet other designers and on a regular basis visited the menage of Charles and Ray Eames .
Kent ’s influence reached beyond the art and designing public . She also befriend other L.A. film world notability like Saul Bass and Alfred Hitchcock , and met with composer John Cage , whom she quoted in her “ rules ” for her artistic creation department ( above ) . Choreographer Merce Cunningham ( and Cage ’s partner ) apparentlykept a copy of Kent ’s rulesin his studio . Buckminister Fuller described his visit to to her nontextual matter studio as “ among the most fundamentally inspiring experiences of my life history . ”
During the late sixties , Kent ’s work commence to switch , address egress like civil rights and the Vietnam War . This sometimes did n’t aviate with the religious leaders at the school day , who also probably did n’t care the fact she run rock’n’roll music during art class . Her kinship to the Catholic Church changed even more after the Vatican resisted reforms that would modernize the church and give more freedom to women . In 1968 she lead the church .
As an example of a nun who was able to build her own personal identity and career , Kent invite international acclaim and was even featured on the cover of Newsweek . She was commissioned to illustrate aLove stampfor the U.S. Postal Service , which was released in 1985 .
Kent die the following year in Boston , where she ’s probably best make love forRainbow Swash , a mural on a gas tank that ’s become a local landmark and is reported to be the largest copyrighted nontextual matter employment in the earthly concern .
The studio at the Immaculate Heart College still exists and has been rename theCorita Art Centerin her honor , hosting art classes and veranda show in Kent ’s spirit .
[ Top image : Immaculate Heart College Art Department , Los Angeles , c. 1955 , courtesy ofCorita Art Center , Los Angeles . All works by Corita Kent . Photographs courtesy ofThe Tang Museum at Skidmore College . Rainbow Swash byLasart75 ]
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