Westmont College
Sister Corita Kent. Image via www.corita.org.
Bright bold text danced across expansive white-framed serigraphs lining our college student center. The first moment I set foot on my college campus, Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., the artwork of Sister Mary Corita Kent captured my heart and imagination.
One playful print, about the bread of life, features the signature bold red yellow and blue Wonder Bread wrapper.
Another featured Beatles lyrics: “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
One, playing on the name of the West Coast grocery chain “SafeWay,” points to the One who called himself “the Way.”
Another — the commentary of one Roman Catholic upon another?— employed Scripture to reference JFK: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.”
Yet another, in patriotic red, white and blue, features the words of Camus, “I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.”
At 18, not yet knowing myself to be called as a bearer of color and words and truth, my voice was unleashed by the prophetic artwork of Sister Corita.
++ Join us in showing our appreciation for Catholic women religious (aka nuns or "sisters") on Thank-a-Nun Day, May 9. Click HERE to send a thank-you note online. ++