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Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent
256 pages, Hardcover
Published February 3, 2026
About the author
Corita Kent
24 books35 followersCorita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), aka Sister Mary Corita Kent, was born Frances Elizabeth Kent in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Kent was an artist and an educator who worked in Los Angeles and Boston. She worked almost exclusively with silkscreen and serigraphy, helping to establish it as a fine art medium. Her artwork, with its messages of love and peace, was particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.
At the age of eighteen Kent entered the Roman Catholic order of Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles. She also studied at the University of Southern California where she earned her MA in Art History in 1951. Between 1938 and 1968 Kent lived and worked in the Immaculate Heart Community. She taught in the Immaculate Heart College and was the chairman of its art department. She left the order in 1968 and moved to Boston, where she devoted herself to making art. She died of cancer in 1986.
Kent created several hundred serigraph designs, for posters, book covers, and murals. Her work includes the 1985 Love Stamp and Rainbow Swash, the 150-foot (46 m)-high natural gas tank in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
At the age of eighteen Kent entered the Roman Catholic order of Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles. She also studied at the University of Southern California where she earned her MA in Art History in 1951. Between 1938 and 1968 Kent lived and worked in the Immaculate Heart Community. She taught in the Immaculate Heart College and was the chairman of its art department. She left the order in 1968 and moved to Boston, where she devoted herself to making art. She died of cancer in 1986.
Kent created several hundred serigraph designs, for posters, book covers, and murals. Her work includes the 1985 Love Stamp and Rainbow Swash, the 150-foot (46 m)-high natural gas tank in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 16, 2026
"Can't we just keep it simple: Love one another and do good?" -Sister Corita Kent
I don't own a coffee table, and I can't say I ever owned a coffee table book - but I read Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent in 3 sittings over the course of 24 hours.
Corita Kent was a fascinating woman. She was a politically-engaged, screenprinting nun who'd sometimes combine the words of The New Testament with the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel, or - in the words of graphic designer Lorraine Wild, "take phrases of advertisings' bad boys (and girls) such as 'get with the action' or 'power up' - distortions of the language of resistance for a superficial celebration of consumerism - and transform those phrases into sales pitches for radically independent modes of spiritual and social engagement."
In short, she was a progressive, badass underground artist and a nun with a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church.
Frances Elizabeth Corita Kent (1918-1986) grew up in a lower middle class Catholic family in Los Angeles. She was one of five kids, born to a first generation Irish American household. She later joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and became Sister Mary Corita.
Sister Corita taught art at IHM, was revered by her students, and made a name for herself through her own art, which combined a socio-religious agenda with American consumer and pop culture. Corita many times went toe-to-toe with Los Angeles' Archbishop James McIntyre. McIntyre was a traditionalist, and he often chastised Corita for her art, whereas Corita heeded Pope John XXIII's Vatican II, which called on the church to update its practices to meet the needs of the modern world.
Sister Corita would often appropriate from consumer products, like commercial slogans (e.g., 7-Up's "Wet & Wild") or packaging designs (e.g., Wonder Bread's colorful dots) to convey her message. She had political conviction and true democratic character, her art - amongst other things - protesting the Vietnam War, confronting racism, addressing political assassination and LBJ's war on poverty. She was also close friends with Father Daniel Berrigan, an activist priest later detained by the FBI for destroying Vietnam War draft files with homemade napalm.
Sister Corita left the Order and Los Angeles in 1968, and relocated to Boston. She fought several rounds of cancer in the decade leading up to her death, but she left an incredible impression on those she loved and inspired with her print and text art.
A book worthy of reading, and to adorn your coffee table should you find yours to be lonely without books.
4 out of 5
I don't own a coffee table, and I can't say I ever owned a coffee table book - but I read Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent in 3 sittings over the course of 24 hours.
Corita Kent was a fascinating woman. She was a politically-engaged, screenprinting nun who'd sometimes combine the words of The New Testament with the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel, or - in the words of graphic designer Lorraine Wild, "take phrases of advertisings' bad boys (and girls) such as 'get with the action' or 'power up' - distortions of the language of resistance for a superficial celebration of consumerism - and transform those phrases into sales pitches for radically independent modes of spiritual and social engagement."
In short, she was a progressive, badass underground artist and a nun with a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church.
Frances Elizabeth Corita Kent (1918-1986) grew up in a lower middle class Catholic family in Los Angeles. She was one of five kids, born to a first generation Irish American household. She later joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and became Sister Mary Corita.
Sister Corita taught art at IHM, was revered by her students, and made a name for herself through her own art, which combined a socio-religious agenda with American consumer and pop culture. Corita many times went toe-to-toe with Los Angeles' Archbishop James McIntyre. McIntyre was a traditionalist, and he often chastised Corita for her art, whereas Corita heeded Pope John XXIII's Vatican II, which called on the church to update its practices to meet the needs of the modern world.
Sister Corita would often appropriate from consumer products, like commercial slogans (e.g., 7-Up's "Wet & Wild") or packaging designs (e.g., Wonder Bread's colorful dots) to convey her message. She had political conviction and true democratic character, her art - amongst other things - protesting the Vietnam War, confronting racism, addressing political assassination and LBJ's war on poverty. She was also close friends with Father Daniel Berrigan, an activist priest later detained by the FBI for destroying Vietnam War draft files with homemade napalm.
Sister Corita left the Order and Los Angeles in 1968, and relocated to Boston. She fought several rounds of cancer in the decade leading up to her death, but she left an incredible impression on those she loved and inspired with her print and text art.
A book worthy of reading, and to adorn your coffee table should you find yours to be lonely without books.
4 out of 5
Displaying 1 of 1 review