Last week I received a magazine (yes a physical one) that comes from the U.K. Pressing Matters is a quarterly magazine that my beloved gifts me. When it arrives it is something I love to savour, not rush to flick through.
In issue 35, this most recent one, I discovered Corita, an artist and educator known as Sister Mary Corita. Her story is very inspiring. Her own work was bold and colourful with text and shapes that overlay. These works share a message of love, hope and justice. As part of her work at Immaculate heart College in L.A. Corita developed a set of 10 RULES, in which she shared the idea that the process os so important. I loved the quote ““Doing and making are acts of Hope” . This is seen in her works and images of her encouraging others to create.
In her own work Corita thought of it as similar to Bible illuminations, throwing light on text and visa versa. There is very much a 1960s printmaking aspect to her work with bold working and typography. Although I majored in screen printing in my degree, I have not used that printing method for decades. Corita’s work ‘Jesus never fails’ 1967, is a mixture of graphics and wonderful juxtaposed colours. As Nellie Scott writes “the colours are joyful and bright, they draw you in, but once you are there, the language asks you to slow down, to read and contemplate.”
Slow down and contemplate- not unlike my immersion in Pressing Matters
Rule 6- how I choose to encourage everyone to create
Corita’s legacy is embedded un the Corita Art Center, and a the article refers to Learning by heart. I delighted in Corita’s term PLORK: play as an act of working and work as a way of playing.
Check out more at: www.pressingmatters.com & Corita www.corita.org
