Oct 23, 2010

>> sister corita


Before I started heavily researching Sister Mary Corita (a.k.a Frances Elizabeth Kent), I knew just that she was a Catholic nun that worked at a school down the street from our apartment during the 60s and 70s and made serigraphs based on advertising images and visuals of the time—I basically thought of her as a lesser-known west coast Andy Warhol...that was also a nun.

There's so much more to the story, and I certainly don't have the authority or space to write about her here and now (but there's a great book on the subject if you're really interested), but I find her incredibly fascinating. From her rebellion against the Catholic church to the fact that she and Charles Eames were both friends and inspiration to each other, Sister Corita's story is a trip.

Several of her silkscreens are on sale to the public still, at the Immaculate Heart School on Western Ave and Los Feliz Blvd (basically where AFI is). MOCA has recently bought up a bunch of them along with some art collectors, but they are still extremely accessible. All it takes in an appointment. Are they cheap? That depends on who you're asking. No, they're not cheap in the sense that the price range is roughly between $800 and $3,000. Yes, they are very cheap in terms of art collector prices and how their projected value will hold up over time.

Matt and I are celebrating our first anniversary this weekend, which is traditionally celebrated with paper, so we picked out a 1966 Sister Corita serigraph yesterday! Buying art can be intimidating and scary (to me), but what was really great about this experience is that all of the profits from their art sales go to local charitable causes as they did when Sister Corita was there. Check out more here.

p.s. Happy 1st anniversary, husband. x

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

On Saturdy, I purchased a wonderful serigraph. I couldn't read the artists name, but after about 5 hours of research on Google, I determined that Sister Corita was the artist. It is called "to be as cordial"
This is the link to it on the website. https://corita.org/collection.html
I bought it a flea market. I am ashamed to say what I paid for it. They had no idea who she was. Truthfully, I didn't either, but I've been told that I have an eye for art. Her work is truly wonderful.

Lizzie said...

Don't be ashamed! Sounds like you got lucky!!! That's awesome!