The former studio of Corita Kent appears to have been saved.
Kent, who died in 1986, was a member of the Immaculate Heart Community and a pop artist whose work has been shown in museums around the world and appeared on the 1985 “Love” U.S. postage stamp.
But her studio, which is now a dry cleaner, was up for demolition by its owner, prompting a campaign to save it from becoming a parking lot. On June 2, those efforts paid off when the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve recommendations to designate the building as a Historic-Cultural Monument. [The building is located near Immaculate Heart High School, two blocks north of Hollywood Boulevard.]
Now, however, more work begins, the Corita Art Center notes on its website: “Corita Art Center is now exploring the future of how this building can be of service to the creative community as a part of the preservation of Corita Kent’s legacy.”
Preserving the site is especially important not just to the Immaculate Heart Community, the center says, but because only 3% of the Historic-Cultural Monuments in Los Angeles are associated with women’s heritage….
The above comes from a June 14 story in the Global Sisters Report, a project of the National Catholic Reporter.
Never heard of her nor her work. If the Immaculate Heart Community wants to preserve the building, they should buy it. Who really cares about this person’s legacy or her “art”? Not me.
what’s wrong with a parking lot?
we lost a perfectly good one along
Temple when they erected the Taj Mahony
Lotta Parkin’—- That building is NOT the “Taj Mahony”. It is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the mother church of the Archdiocese and Province of Los Angeles. Not more estimable than a parking lot? You certainly have a right to express, in a respectful way, your disapproval of the architectural design, etc.
But your comment has no intellectual content.
Hey, there– “Lotta Parkin’ sure does tell the truth. Your reply sure is intellectually ignorant– for all to see and laugh at.
Never Heard of Her: if you have never heard of Sister Corita Kent then you would do well to look her up on google or Wikipedia and learn about her. She was influential in the art world and the Church in the 1960’s
OMG, I did a search of images of her art. The most tasteless, ugly, dated, immature 1960s/1970s graphics imaginable. Why would anyone want to preserve that or its legacy? Burn it. It’s ugly and obsolete and dated.
Burn It– I agree. What is really strange, is that Sr. Corita was kind of “old,” for the 1960s political leftist “hippie” activist movement, as she was a 50-year-old nun, in 1968. And then, she left her order, as most of the sisters did, after Vatican II– and next, left the Catholic Church entirely.
I agree. Also, this from Wiki:
Due to opposition from Cardinal James McIntyre (who had a particular dislike for Kent), the sisters would eventually be forced out of their schools in Los Angeles—with the exception of the college—and most of the sisters left the order entirely, while keeping the larger school. Kent, however, would move to the East Coast and begin to work independently. She also left the Catholic Church entirely.
Peggy et al – While I don’t have a counter reference, I am always skeptical of wiki for anythig other than very general info. And, certainly nothing Faith related. Caveat emptor.
“Wiki?” Yes, it is not always accurate or reliable. Not as good as an old-fashioned source, such as a newspaper or book. Many of us saw all of this offensive “history” as it happened! And it was in all of the big newspapers, news magazines, TV, etc., of the day, as well as in Catholic news sources.
Who cares?
Corita Kent—Sister Mary Corita Kent, I.H.M. before she left the Order and, [I think] abandoned Catholicism—produced beautiful silk serigraphs of significant size. Most consisted of objects, such as a single fruit or a series of palettes in a single frame, that were inscribed with a devotional message either on the palettes inside the serigraphs or under the object portrayed. Examples: a serigraph of a single yellow luscious apple inscribed: “Keep me O Lord as the Apple of Your Eye”; a serigraph of lines of free-form red, yellow and blue circles on a pure white background, with the inscription “Wonder Bread”, referring to the consecrated eucharistic Host; and the controversial rendering on a white background of a single red, red ripe garden tomato dripping with early morning dew, inscribed “The Greatest Tomato of Them All”, a tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Many thought her art “trendy” at best and irreverent—even sacrilegious—at worst. For me, they were spiritually “deeply invasive”. They made theological truths instantly evident and more appreciable through concrete images beautiful to the human senses.
Corita’s serigraphs are critically acclaimed. For sure, they are not everybody’s cup of tea. But they enriched my spiritual life immensely.
Preserve the studio where she produced them! We’ve spent much more money on far less worthy things.
Sorry– to start off with, serigraphs like that dumb “Greatest Tomato of Them All” is just ridiculous as a so-called “religious art work.” Surely, that could never in all the world inspire anyone’s religious devotion to Our Lady. None of Sr. Corita’s stuff was really “art” at all. How about sincere Catholic nuns, with authentic artistic gifts from God, who lovingly create stunningly beautiful works of art, that move your heart to deep religious devotion to Christ and Our Blessed Mother?
Tomato was slang for woman. Mary is the greatest woman of them all.
Very blasphemous, Tomato! A horror, before the holy Blessed Mother, a pure, spotless Virgin, who carried the Blessed Sacrament, the holy Christ-Child, within her– to call her– a “tomato!” Blasphemous!
“Mary Mother, Juciest Tomato of Them All,” the inscription on Sr. Corita’s famous 1964 pop-art creation, was a slogan taken from a Del Monte tomato can.
In my Nov. 15th comnent at 9:26pm, I meant to say, that the slogan was taken from a Del Monte tomato sauce can. Sr. Corita, as well as other “pop art” creators of the 1960s, frequently used famous slogans of the day, from a variety of sources. Their true profession was in the leftist political activist field, and advertising field– not art. And no, this “nun” was hardly “Catholic,” nor religious at all.
Sr. Corita’s “Wonder Bread” series should have been loudly condemned by the Pope. The Most Holy Eucharist must never be depicted in such a demeaning, unholy manner, in a secular, leftist political activist “pop art” creation. The Blessed Sacrament is the Real Presence of Christ Himself. A nun should never, in all this world, have dreamed up this pitiful, unholy sacrilege.
“A Sacrilege”— I think we get your point. Why does it take you 5 posts to make it? And in language that may be a bit over the top. Linda Maria, you must calm down. All this semi-hysteria is bad for your health. Whatever posting moniker you use, your writing “style” identifies you immediately.
“Salve”– why do you waste time writing a long, useless comment defending phony, sacrilegious, so-called “Catholic” “artwork,” of a leftist political activist “nun” who left the Church? We are all so sick of these phony, anti-Catholic, political leftist freaks, destroying our Church with their beastly, vulgar, ugly, idiotic, ignorant “works” in Church art and architecture. If you think it’s “great” and “inspiring” to call the Blessed Virgin Mary a “juicy ripe tomato,” you’d better dump your phony Latin moniker– and go join another church.
If you click on the link that says Corita Art Center you can see her work.
like “Never heard of her” said,
why don’t the Immaculate Heart Community
just buy the place?
too simple?
I have never, in all my days, seen such a unique piece of architecture – simply amazing.
sounds like the nun was a “none”
immensely clever.
I don’t understand why the dry cleaner is advertising “Every Friday in July” when it’s November.
did corita wear polyester much?
asking for a friend