Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent

Contact
Jessica Warchall
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412.237.8351
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[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM ANNOUNCES SOMEDAY IS NOW: THE
ART OF CORITA KENT, OPENING JANUARY 2015
Pittsburgh, PA, November 25, 2014 —
Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent
January 31 – April 19, 2015
The Andy Warhol Museum announces its latest exhibition, Someday is Now: The
Image: Corita Kent, things go better with, 1967
Art of Corita Kent, opening to the public January 31, 2015.
This exhibition is the first full-scale survey covering more than 30 years of work by
the American artist Corita Kent (1918–1986). In her rich and varied career, she was
a designer, teacher, feminist, and activist for civil rights and anti-war causes. Her
thousands of posters, murals, and signature serigraphs reflect a combined passion for
faith and politics. Kent became one of the most popular graphic artists of the 1960s
Image: Immaculate Heart College Art
Department, Los Angeles, c. 1955, courtesy of
Corita Art Center, Los Angeles
and 1970s, and her images remain iconic symbols that address the larger questions
and concerns of that turbulent time.
While several exhibitions have focused on Kent’s work from the 1960s, Someday is
Now is the first major museum show to survey her entire career, including early
abstractions and text pieces as well as the more lyrical works made in the 1970s and
1980s. The exhibition includes rarely shown photographs Kent used for teaching
and documentary purposes, as well as hands-on art activities inspired by Kent’s
teaching philosophy.
“So many artists have been inspired by Kent’s art, activism, and teaching
philosophy, including several artist educators on staff at The Warhol,” says Tresa
Varner, curator of education and interpretation at The Warhol. “Her message and
The Andy Warhol Museum
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One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
belief in the power of art to transform is still relevant today, and it has inspired
programming at the museum for years.”
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Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent, Opening January 2015…Page 2
A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Kent taught in the art department at
Immaculate Heart College from 1946 through 1968, where she fostered a creative
and collaborative arts community and developed a life-long interest in printmaking.
At IHC, she developed her characteristic mixture of bold, bright imagery and
provocative texts that she extracted from a range of cultural sources, including
advertising slogans, grocery store signage, poetry, scripture, newspapers, magazines,
philosophy, theological criticism, and song lyrics. Her inventive textual amalgams
mix the secular and religious, popular culture and fine art, pain and hope, and
include quotes from a range of literary and cultural figures, such as Samuel Beckett,
Albert Camus, e. e. cummings, Langston Hughes, John Lennon, and Gertrude Stein.
For Kent, printmaking was a populist medium to communicate with the world
around her, and her designs were widely disseminated through billboards, book
jackets, illustrations, posters, gift cards, and T-shirts. Printmaking allowed Kent to
produce a large quantity of original art for those who could not afford to purchase
high-priced artworks.
Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent is curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College,
and Michael Duncan, independent curator and art critic, in collaboration with the
Corita Art Center, Los Angeles. The exhibition is made possible with the generous
support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Friends of the
Tang Museum.
EXHIBITION RELATED PROGRAMS
Public Opening: Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent
Friday, January 30, 2015
7–10 p.m.
Warhol entrance space and second floor
This free public exhibition opening features live music by DJ Huck Finn and a cash
bar. The event is part of FREE GOOD FRIDAYS presented by UPMC Health Plan
throughout the month of January, offering free museum admission Fridays from 5–
10 p.m.
Free
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Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent, Opening January 2015…Page 3
Corita Kent in Her Contexts: Art, Craft, Politics, and Society
Saturday, March 7, 2015
2 p.m.
Warhol theater
Ori Soltes, professorial lecturer in theology and fine arts at Georgetown University,
explores Corita Kent’s contributions to art history. Visual art has rarely been devoid
of connections to religion and politics, and the hierarchy of visual artistic
categories—architecture, sculpture, and painting; painting and photography; art and
craft—has often offered blurred boundaries, particularly in the modern era. Kent
often articulated those connections and helped identify that one form of selfexpression is no more “art” than another.
Free with museum admission
Art & Activism
Saturday, March 21, 2015
2 p.m.
Warhol theater
Dr. Joyce Bell, assistant professor of sociology at The University of Pittsburgh,
leads a conversation around social justice, empowerment through the arts, and
representation of youth of color in the media.
Free with museum admission
The Warhol receives state arts funding support through a grant from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and The
Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset
District.
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Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent, Opening January 2015…Page 4
About The Andy Warhol Museum
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy
Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival
materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world.
The Andy Warhol Museum is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Additional information about The Warhol is available at www.warhol.org.
About Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1895, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a
collection of four distinctive museums dedicated to exploration through art and
science: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie
Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum.
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Phone:
412-237-8300
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Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
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Admission:
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Good Fridays 5 – 10 p.m., half-price museum admission
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