Corita challenged both the church and the art world with her expressive creations, stirring a remarkable disruption, and offered fundamental principles, tools, and techniques to enhance and encourage artistic creativity. Corita’s work reflected her concerns about poverty, addressing key themes of racism and war. Her messages of peace and social justice continue to resonate with us today.

Corita Kent (1918–1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an artist with an innovative approach to design and education. At age 18 she entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary, eventually teaching and then heading the art department at Immaculate Heart College.

By the 1960s, her vibrant serigraphs were drawing international acclaim. Corita’s work reflected her concerns about poverty, addressing key themes of racism and war. During her career, her artwork evolved from using figurative and religious imagery to incorporating advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature.

Throughout the ’60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and social injustice.

Sister Corita Kent stands in front of her work, including for Eleanor, at Immaculate Heart College in 1964.

Kent’s for Eleanor (1964) plays off General Mills’ slogan. ⓒ Arthur Evans/Tang Teaching Museum

Corita Kent’s art stood as a testament to her activism, weaving together vibrant visuals and spiritually-rooted social commentary to passionately advocate for love and tolerance.

Her primary medium was screen printing, also known as Serigraphy. She was a self-taught artist and her innovative methods pushed back the limitations of two-dimensional media of the times. Corita’s emphasis on printing was partially due to her wish for democratic outreach, as she wished for affordable art for the masses. Her artwork, with its messages of love and peace, was particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.

1952–1959 — Corita continues working and teaching at IHC, her reputation as an artist and teacher growing.

In That They May Have Life (1964). Corita Kent turned images from a Wonder Bread wrapper into a meditation on poverty and hunger that includes quotes from a Hazard, Ky., miner’s wife, and Mohandas Gandhi.

In 1968, she left the order and moved to Boston. Following a cancer diagnosis in the early 1970s, Corita Kent entered a profoundly prolific phase in her career. During this time, Corita achieved remarkable work.

She designed the Rainbow Swash for the LNG tank in Boston in 1971, what is said to be the largest copyrighted design in the world — a painting on the side of the Boston Gas Co.’s huge natural gas tank. The enormous rainbow — six simple strokes of color arching across the 150-foot-high gas tank — has been a Boston landmark ever since.