Nellie Scott can fit a little more than 150 art kits into her Prius, maybe 200 if she wedges them Tetris-style up to the dashboard.
In the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, she did this often, taking the creative care packages to hotels and aid distribution sites. At the same time, Scott and the team at Corita Art Center were preparing to open the new Los Angeles hub dedicated to the work of Corita Kent, the pop artist who rose to acclaim in the 1960s while she was a nun and a teacher at Immaculate Heart College. These art kits — filled with paints, pencils and paper, and marked with the iconic Love postage stamp that Kent designed in 1985 — are as much a part of her legacy as her art is. Maybe more so.
There’s a crucial question at the core of an organization like Corita Art Center, says Scott: “How do we keep somebody’s legacy alive and care for it and steward that?”m
That’s particularly true in the case of Corita Kent, who died nearly 40 years ago, when artists’ estates and, really, the world, were vastly different.
At Corita Art Center, where Scott is the executive director, the answer lies in themes that were at the core of Kent’s own art. She says, “I think what really drives the mission of our organization is the ethos of love, hope and justice.”
From nun to activist
Frances Elizabeth Kent was born in Iowa in 1918, but was still quite young when her family moved to Los Angeles. She grew up in Hollywood, attending Blessed Sacrament for elementary school and Los Angeles Catholic Girls’ High School (now known as Bishop Conaty – Our Lady of Loretto High School) before entering the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order, where she took the name Sister Mary Corita.
Kent’s work as an artist and an educator are tightly knit. She was already teaching in the art department at Immaculate Heart College, where she also earned her B.A., when she began to develop her printmaking practice. Where her early works were often overtly religious, by the 1960s, Kent drew inspiration from the secular world as well. She brought together references to ubiquitous brands like Wonder Bread, quotations sourced from philosopher/author Albert Camus and The Beatles, as well as newspaper clippings to create her messages.
At the same time, Immaculate Heart College’s art department, for which she was named chair in 1964, grew into an L.A. cultural epicenter. Kent’s own profile soared; she was even featured on the cover of Newsweek in 1967. Her work became more politically charged, commenting on the whirlwind of news during a tumultuous era.
While Kent left her order in the late 1960s, she continued to speak of love and peace through her art. Her most famous piece, a stack of rainbow-hued stripes with the word “Love” written underneath, was released as a U.S. postage stamp just one year prior to her death from cancer.
Exhibiting compassion
For years, Kent’s work had been housed at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Feliz. In March, though, Corita Art Center opened its own, dedicated space in the Arts District. It’s currently open to the public on Saturdays by appointment, to give visitors ample time to view the works held in this small venue. On average, guests stay about 90 minutes, taking in the art and personal ephemera that tell Kent’s life story.
CAC is currently exhibiting “a set of heroes and sheroes,” works that Kent made between 1968 and 1969, a number of which address then-current events, like the Vietnam War and struggle for civil rights, and highlight the era’s changemakers, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.
But, CAC is more than an art collection. They partner with various other local nonprofits, including Alexandria House, Pacoima Beautiful and Homeboy Industries. Recently, they held a workshop with WriteGirl. The art kits, which began during the pandemic, have become a long-term project that the group adapts to fit the specific needs of a given moment. In the past six months, they’ve distributed 1,500 art kits to families who were impacted by the fires; the goal is to continue with these relief efforts.
“That feels very true to who Corita was as a person, but also as an artist,” says Scott.
“Corita, in her lifetime, said that teaching was the most important thing she could do,” says Kent’s former student Barbara Loste. “A lot of other people consider her art the most important thing she did, but I don’t think you can separate the two.”
Between 1965 and 1968, Loste was a student in the art department at Immaculate Heart College, where she took several classes taught by Kent. “We were all a little bit starstruck,” remembers Loste, who went on to a career in curation and education and is currently based in Portland, Oregon. “She was a hard teacher. She demanded a lot of us, and she was brilliant.”
Loste was in the classroom when Kent devised what’s now known as the “Ten Rules,” a set of instructions for students in the Immaculate Art Department that have since become the subject of the book “New Rules Next Week,” and an audio broadcast, both of which Loste contributed to. The rules, which are also painted on the bottom level of the building where Corita Art Center resides, end with the line, “there should be new rules next week.”
“That still is an important rule because things are changing so quickly,” says Loste.
Kent’s most active period coincided with a time of immense change in the art world, the Roman Catholic Church and American society. “It was like a cauldron and we knew it and they knew it and Corita knew it,” says Loste. “I think it was the beginning of what we feel today, even more so, as being change agents, being in the middle of change.”
For Kent, art was a means to advocate change, whether she specifically addressed an issue in the piece or she sold works for fundraising purposes.
“She really saw her art as her contribution,” says Scott, before posing the question, “How do we use our time and talent for the common good?”
This differentiated Kent from other, more recognizable, pop artists of her time. “Andy Warhol really sought out fame. That was one of his goals,” says Loste. “Her goal was to open up humanity, to become a better human being and help those around her become better human beings.”
There’s a lot in Kent’s legacy that applies today. “We all have something to contribute to the collective whole, and that’s really what it means to be in community too,” says Scott. “Sometimes, it starts with your neighbor. Checking in on them. Sometimes that looks different when you care for your block and your city and it can grow from there. That, I think, is where Corita lands in the way that she was working.”