Sister Corita Kent and Her Extraordinary Pop Graphic Impact

Art does not come from thinking, but responding. ~ Sister Corita Kent

Driving from Rhode Island to Boston, Massachusetts on frequent trips as a child, I remember looking forward to seeing the Rainbow Swash, the world’s largest copyright work of art, painted over natural gas storage tanks just south of downtown Boston. Passing them meant we were close to our destination, and the large streaks captured my imagination. They were just so free, poetic, and graphic. I learned later the work I admired was by Sister Corita Kent, artist, designer, educator, and Roman Catholic religious sister.

In your church café, a sign that spells out COFFEE seems redundant when you can already smell the beans; why not signify a message that reinforces community values?

Kent’s artwork, with its messages of love, hope, and justice became very popular during the social unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. Her affordable serigraph posters, banners, and prints were accessible to all, widely distributed, and helped to define a tone of optimism during a turbulent time. During these times, we can look back and find the messages of artists like Sister Corita Kent still resonate today.

To some, Kent was an activist turning her energies and talents into anti-war messaging. Others were inspired by the positive, expressive images that have transcended that era into our own. Her work is full of hope and speaks to justice and love. She asked us to look with new eyes at social causes and to care for one other. To me, every stroke of the Rainbow Swash shouted freedom. I saw it as something that represented permission to express ourselves and share our message.

Her work is full of hope and speaks to justice and love. She asked us to look with new eyes at social causes and to care for one other.

As we reflect on how to use graphics and signage in sacred spaces, let’s learn from Sister Corita Kent’s legacy. Messaging can direct people in new ways. In your church café, a sign that spells out COFFEE seems redundant when you can already smell the beans; why not signify a message that reinforces community values?

Kent was an early art appropriator (in today’s terms, think Banksy and Richard Prince) who played with familiar lyrics, slogans, biblical verses, and advertising logos. Kent adapted the General Mills slogan (The Big G stands for Goodness) so that implies, as one critic has noted, “'G,' 'God;' 'goodness,' 'spiritual goodness.'” At the end of her life she created the renowned Love stamp for the U.S. Postal Service. On a stamp, and in contrast to the enormity of the Rainbow Wash which it resembles, it’s perhaps her smallest work. But its impact (it sold over 700 million copies) is everlasting.

When we next create wayfinding, signage, and graphics, let’s be a master motivator like Kent.

When we next create wayfinding, signage, and graphics, let’s be a master motivator like Kent. Let’s tell our stories and share our values. She often said that creating meant relating. Let’s send a message that asks everyone to engage, to be hopeful, to care.

Read more about the Corita Art Center. And to help save Corita’s studio, take action. #GetWithTheAction #SaveCoritasStudio