Hello again, everyone. I’ve been keeping my head down this last month clearing some big projects off my desk. Lately I’ve been thinking about the work of Sister Corita Kent, whose artwork I’ve always admired but haven’t studied in years. Rather than a “Friday Finds” review of news from the art world (I suspect I’m not alone in my desire to hide out from the news), I thought it might be more satisfying to feature a profile of Corita Kent’s life and brave, bright, uplifting artwork. Much of the following biographical information was sourced from the Corita Art Center’s excellent website about their namesake (http://www.corita.org). The Corita Art Center in Los Angeles was created to maintain and exhibit the collection of prints, paintings, and copyrights willed to the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Kent.
Corita Kent was born in 1918 in Fort Dodge, Iowa as Frances Kent and was raised in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 18 she became a nun and joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, where she took the name Sister Mary Corita.
She graduated from Immaculate Heart College in 1941 and later worked there as an at professor, eventually becoming Chairman of the Art Department in 1964. Her formal education also included earning a master’s degree in art history from the University of Southern California.
Kent’s leadership as head of the Art Department fostered a Renaissance environment enlivened by visits from pioneering contemporary artists, designers and musicians including Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller, and John Cage. Artist Ben Shahn dubbed Kent a “joyous revolutionary.” Contrary to the withdrawn life one might expect for a nun, Kent lectured widely, appeared frequently in media interviews, and was on the cover of Newsweek in 1967.
The Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies is the leading scholarly publication in the fine art and antiques appraisal community. I'm very pleased to have an article I wrote included for publication in the 2016 edition of the Journal forthcoming later this month.
Titled "An Introduction to Appraising Mid-Century Modern Furniture," it is written for a target audience of professional appraisers unfamiliar with Mid-Century Modern and 20th Century Design with the aim of providing them with a useful guide to help determine whether they have competency to complete an appraisal assignment on their own or whether they should consult with a Mid-Century Modern specialist such as myself.
A common refrain I hear from clients is disappointment that they feel the younger generations are not interested in antiques and instead want to furnish their homes all at once with new items from big-box stores. While of course this stereotype has many exceptions (I am one of them), it is a topic I think about a lot. As both a long-time antique lover and an appraiser who is younger than some of my colleagues in the field, I feel I have a perspective that bridges both worlds. After extensive time mulling the issue, several thoughts emerged which I outline in this post.
Choosing antiques over new furniture reinforces values that are frequently identified as important to many millennials.
Reason 1: It's good for the environment. The greenest item is the one that already exists, right? Purchasing an antique saves the expenditure of resources that would go into the production of a newly manufactured item. I'm certainly not the first to think of this--check out the UK-based website Antiques are Green (http://www.antiquesaregreen.org)
Reason 2: It's good for your health. Many newly manufactured furniture items contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and acetone. This group of harmful chemicals are called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and they continue to off-gas and release toxic fumes into your home for decades to come. Antique furniture was mostly produced without the use of these chemicals and any off-gassing of VOCs has long since ended.
This week I had the opportunity to visit the excellent exhibition "Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and Design, Midcentury and Today" at the Nation Museum of Women in the Arts, which closes today. Organized and originally installed at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the exhibition was curated by Jennifer Scanlan and Ezra Shales.
The museum described the exhibition as presenting "dynamic women designers and artists from the mid-20th century and today making groundbreaking commercial and industrial designs, maintaining craft traditions, and incorporating new aesthetics into fine art.
