Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Corita Kent Rules

Printmaker Corita Kent (Sister Mary Corita until 1968) ran the Art Department at Immaculate Heart College. These---bottom---are her art rules: 
THE ONLY RULE IS WORK.

2015 exhibition and info about Kent: Someday Is Now.

3 comments:

Michael Leddy said...

I love these rules, and for many years, ten or more, I put Rule 7 on a page that I gave to all students in my classes about how to do well. (The page varied from class to class, but Rule 7 was always there.)

There’s a misguided (I think) effort to claim these rules, all of them, as the work of John Cage. I wrote a post in 2012 with links to explanatory stuff, including a blog post with a comment from a former Kent student who took part in creating the list. To my ear, the rules have a pleasant discontinuity that suggests the work of a group.

Once when Elaine and I were visiting Rachel and her now-husband in LA, we bought them some Corita Kent mugs in a museum shop. I think seeing her work in California made it make a new kind of sense. Light! Color!

Frex said...

Hi, Michael!

Oooh, that makes me mad, to think these are being attributed to John Cage.

I love the WORK rule!
I feel happiest when I'm working---I'm just not always working at what I'm [going to be ] paid to be working at... :(

Yes--place matters, doesn't it?
My Finnish friend says Starsky & Hutch looks foreign because of the light.

I want a mug.

Frex said...

Attribution, I see, is mixed:
One site added a note:
"* UPDATE: While these Rules have often been attributed to John Cage (who valued them highly), it is now recognised that the author is Sis Corita Kent (link is external). Thanks for those who tweeted this correction."