Several months back I shared the work of Sister Mary Corita after being blown away by her alphabet prints I saw at Art Basel Miami. When I learned there was an exhibition, R(ad)ical Love: Sister Mary Corita, featuring her serigraphs as a social activist showing at the The National Museum of Women in the Arts I knew I had to make time to visit.
I went with my friend e and we were in that room over an hour admiring, reading, and gawking at every single print. Sister Mary Corita's color sense is incredible. She used unexpected combinations with pops of color that vibrated off her thought-provoking pieces. e loved her use of tone on tone ink on paper technique which made some things invisible at first glance but brought in the viewer a little more if they noticed there was something else there to be read.
And the text. Sister Mary Corita was clearly well read and very involved in her community. She pulled quotes, intriguing newspaper clippings, and poetry into her pieces to give them another layer of thought. You could tell she really had her eyes and ears opened to what was going on during that very intense era of the sixties. She interpreted the social injustices and political fires of that time into her work in a way that simply spoke to love, unity, peace, and God.
She also had an eye for design. Sister Mary Corita incorporated pop icons, logos, and imagery into her work giving her messages double, sometimes triple meanings.
I love her work! I really wish she was still with us today, I have so many questions to ask her.
This body of work is a must see. I hope you get a chance to check it out.
(I don't think I was allowed to take pics, but had to for you to see. So please excuse my quick iPhone pics.)
