Corita Kent – The Pop Art Nun.

Frances Elizabeth Kent was born in 1918, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. At age 18, she joined the religious order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to become a nun and graduated with a B.A. by age 23, and later earned her MA in Art History ten years later.

As an educator, she became increasingly popular after word had spread about her unconventional teaching methods, which included drawing blindfolded and trips to supermarkets to observe people and packaging. As an artist, her work mostly consisted of serigraphy – silk screen printing – and started from figurative and religious motifs to including slogans, lyrics and biblical verses.

Before coming across her name, I never thought that the words ‘nun’ and ‘designer’ would fit int he same sentence. I found it paradoxical. Religious orders tend to be quite conservative, whilst graphic design (or even art in general) tend to be more liberal, in a creative sense. Artists tend to move away from things that inhibit their creativity. However, it was not the case with Corita Kent. Throughout the sixties, her work was taking a political turn and in her work she addressed pressing humanitarian matters such as poverty, political injustice and racism.

The 60s era was an era of constant change all over the world, so undoubtedly, artists’ work will be influenced by the ‘Pop Culture’, including Kent. She attributes this influence in her work to a visit to Andy Warhol’s exhibition of soup can paintings, where she laters recalls that one would see everything like Andy Warhol. This pivotal moment was what transformed from an educator to an artist which earned her the nickname ‘The Pop Art Nun’.

With all this said, I was also surprised that she managed to hold it together in a religious order for over 30 years, considering that how divergent these two worlds can be in terms of political affairs. However, I was not surprised that at one point she renounced her vows eventually because of issues with the clergy. It is sad to see how tight-knit religious orders can be. As much as many want to make a change in this world, up till this day, they hold back in addressing pressing issues the way they really are.