The Revolutionary Art of Sister Corita Kent
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Abrams Books for Young Readers
(pub. 4.16.2024)
40 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Mara Rockliff
Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Character: Sister Corita Kent
Overview:
" Sister Corita Kent, the 'pop art nun,' burst onto the 1960s art scene with splashes of color and ad slogans transformed into messages of love, hope, peace, and justice. The art world would never be the same—and neither would the young people whose lives she changed.
Join Corita’s students as they learn how to look at the world around them through an artist’s eyes. With Corita, work is play, imagination means adventure, and there is no line between life and art."
Tantalizing taste:
"She has taught us how to SEE
and play
and protest joyfully,
to make art all our lives
and to make our lives ART.
Now it's our turn to share what we have learned.
'She taught that art is not something apart from life and living.'
'Everything was a joy to her ... and that's catching.'
'I didn't know that I could see the way that an artist sees.'
'There aren't many lessons more valuable than to pay attention.'
'She didn't teach us how to draw or paint so much as she taught us to care.'"
And something more: The author, Mara Rockliff, shares in the Author's Note: "By the late 1960s, America was in turmoil, with protests about racism and the ongoing war in Vietnam... Sister Corita admired the courage of the Catonsville Nine [a group of Catholic activists arrested for an act of civil disobedience against what many considered an immoral war] and tried to emulate it in her art with prints that juxtaposed words and images in unexpected ways to make viewers think more deeply about world events."
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