Corita Kent
Born: November 20, 1918
Died: September 18, 1986
Known as the “joyous revolutionary,” Kent “care[d] about it all.” She was born in 1918, and at age 18 joined the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She taught at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles and became head of the art department in 1964.
“Poets and artists notice the common place, how good it is,” she said. Like the words say in her pink, block-lettered print “the cry that will be heard,” she wanted her students and city and church to “give a damn.” Taking popular slogans, advertisements, song lyrics, spiritual writings, and grocery signs, she responded to the injustice, racism, poverty, and war happening in her 1960s Los Angeles through colorful and thought-provoking silk screens.
More about Albert the Great:
Corita Kent, the joyous revolutionary
“Pop art nun” Corita Kent inspires us to find beauty in each boundary-bending moment.
How the ‘pop art nun’ inspired a leap of faith
One novice’s encounter with the art of Corita Kent.
Image: Corita with serigraphs, c. 1960. Image courtesy of the Corita Art Center, Los Angeles, corita.org.
