← Women Designers You Should Know
Women Designers You Should Know
029. Corita Kent and Britt Rohr: Peace & Love & Printmaking
00:45:22
This dual feature episode highlights Corita Kent’s journey from nun to Pop Art pioneer, using screen printing to champion love and justice, and Britt Rohr’s modern take on printmaking as the founder of Swell Press, blending craftsmanship and storytelling in her designs.
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- [00:03]
Amber Aiesi
Hello. Hello. Welcome to Women Designers, You Should Know, the podcast that highlights creative women who use their work to inspire change and make history. I'm your host, Amber Aiesi, and today we're diving into the life and legacy of Corita Kent, a nun turned pop art pioneer whose bold, text driven works transformed activism into an art form. She's known for her innovative use of everyday imagery and powerful social commentary. Corita's art championed love, justice, and human connection during some of the most turbulent decades in modern history. I think this is an episode we all need today. Joining me for this episode is Brit Rohrer, the founder of Swell Press, whose work in letterpress and printmaking carries a similar spirit of intention and storytelling. And together, we'll explore how Corita used her hands literally and metaphorically to frame a new perspective on art teaching and activism. So wherever, wherever you are on your morning commute, winding down for the evening, or stealing a quiet moment in your day, get ready to be inspired by the incredible story of Corita Kent. Desire, designers. You should know when it desires. You should know. You should know when desire. You should know. Welcome, Brit, to the podcast. Hi, Amber. I'm so excited to chat with you. You and I have known each other for good, you know, seven, eight years. Years now.
- [02:12]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah.
- [02:13]
Amber Aiesi
Which is wild. And we live on complete opposite sides of la, so I never get to see you, even though I wish I could. But it's always fun to see what you're up to and to follow along. And obviously I want to talk all things well pressed and everything, but it seems like the ebbs and flows of wedding season really pull you into busy seasons, but then you're doing all of these other things on top. And so I feel like I'm an ambitious person. But then when I see what you're doing, I'm like, oh, she is like a completely different type of ambitious.
- [02:47]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, I'm a little nutty, I always say. I'm, like, drowning in my own ambition and I should probably chill out a little bit. Enneagram. Type the enthusiast. That's who I am. I'm kind of like your typical, like, frantic creative person where, like, I just have ideas and I'm so energized by them. And then half the time, by the time, they're like 75% realized, I'm tired of them and I need to move on.
- [03:08]
Amber Aiesi
But I feel like you're one of those people who, it's like there's never enough time in the day or never enough. Oh, my gosh, you're Just like onto the next thing and then when I see what you're doing or pulling out, it's just like how, what, what is this next thing like? It's just so incredible to just watch.
- [03:27]
Brit Rohrer
That's so kind, thank you.
- [03:30]
Amber Aiesi
So I want to talk more about your early life too. Remind me, where did you grow up and what got you going creatively as a child?
- [03:39]
Brit Rohrer
I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Boring, whitewashed. Growing up there, I was always kind of like quirky and artistic, but I didn't really pursue anything artistic hardcore in education or in higher education. I like painting, I liked crafts, you know, I mean, every kid does, but I, you know, mine lasted a little bit longer. I don't think you would have seen me as like a 10 year old and pin me to own a business that is based in creativity.
- [04:06]
Amber Aiesi
So you didn't go to college for art or anything like that?
- [04:11]
Brit Rohrer
No, I wanted to and my parents encouraged me to do something more practical. So for me it was advertising because it was like, okay, graphic design, advertising. I can like mold those two worlds. And then I also attempted to get a minor in film studies because I really just loved film. That's what led me to Los Angeles was my love of film and wanting to work in the film industry. And I actually ended up working at a commercial production company. So we made television commercials. My two worlds were like merged into this perfect combination for me, which was advertising and a little bit of film.
- [04:47]
Amber Aiesi
So is that what you started doing early on in your career?
- [04:51]
Brit Rohrer
As soon as I graduated college, I went to University of Georgia, I moved to la. I just wanted to do anything in the film industry. And then I came out here and I realized how hard it was, you know, oh, to be young and naive. And if I had known how hard it would have been to, to get to the point that I wanted to get to, I probably wouldn't have tried. So I'm grateful for that. In retrospect, that I was completely clueless.
- [05:13]
Amber Aiesi
Where did you want to go? Like, what was the end goal?
- [05:15]
Brit Rohrer
I wanted to be an art director or a production designer. I wanted to be a part of what made the magic on screen. But I ended up finding myself more in a production role, more of logistics and that very stressful, less creative side of things which I think has really benefited me where I am now in terms of my work ethic and how I cope with certain things and things like that. To me, the part that I was fascinated with was like when we would shoot on backlots and you See these mini worlds that are brought to life and, you know, how they create all of these sets and everything like that. That was a part that I was just so fascinated with, working in the industry and seeing the likelihood of reaching that level of production designer. That's why I was like, oh, man, this is rough. I'm gonna stick to what I'm good at, which was the more, like, logistics side of production.
- [06:02]
Amber Aiesi
That makes sense. So then what was that transition like, going from film to swell press? Is there crossover or what happened with that?
- [06:11]
Brit Rohrer
It was a total accident. I never thought that this would be my career now. I thought I was going to work in film production and eventually, like, work my way up to be an executive producer, work at a studio or something like that. But I always had that creative bug inside me. Like, I always just needed to create. So when I was in production, I found myself with this desire to just make something more tangible. And a friend, on a whim, just showed me what letterpress was, this print method that I. I had seen the products of, but I had no idea how it was made. So a friend encouraged me to take a class at a local studio and I did. And I just fell in love with the art of letterpress. Like, I always say that the first time I rolled something through the press, it was like the heavens parted and the angels sang. And it was like that moment where I was like, oh, my God, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Which actually, now, as someone who has taught letterpress to, in person, dozens of people by the Internet, hundreds of people, that's not really that uncommon with letterpress. I think it just has this, like, magical impact on when I did it. Being the ambitious, slightly unhinged enthusiast that I was, I became obsessed. I would just print everything I could get my hands on. I didn't care if it was like, your dog's half birthday, I will print you an invitation. I literally would print everything. Being from the South, I was still in my early mid-20s, but a lot of my friends were still getting married at that time because they get married a little bit earlier. So it was actually this timing where I had this opportunity to print a lot of wedding invitations. And I was still doing this as, like, a side hustle, you know, like any minute or hour I wasn't in production, I would be printing. So I eventually bought my own press and put it in my garage, this little baby press called the Vanderkook. It's not a little baby, it's about a thousand pounds. And. But in terms of the Vanderkook model press, it was a baby press.
- [08:07]
Amber Aiesi
But isn't the Vandercook a longer one? It's a circle plate.
- [08:12]
Brit Rohrer
Yes. Evander Cut is a flatbed cylinder press. It's actually like technically a proofing press. And then the one with the circle disc that you see a lot, that looks like very antique and very beautiful. Those are called platen presses or clamshell presses. So those are like the most prevalent.
- [08:26]
Amber Aiesi
The smaller ones or usually. Yeah, they do tabletop.
- [08:31]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, they do make tabletop ones. Yeah. If you want to do, like commercial printing, I wouldn't recommend them. I could talk for 20 hours about different presses.
- [08:39]
Amber Aiesi
I mean, it's so impressive to fully dive into that world. And now I completely consider you an expert in letterpress and the best of the best. And it's true. It's such a tactile form that in such a digital world that we live in now, there, I don't think it'll ever die off. I think there will always be that need. And the value there of this is really special. This is something to hold in my hands and feel and touch and embrace and all of that, too.
- [09:10]
Brit Rohrer
I agree. Especially when I decided to quit my job and to pursue this full time, and people thought I was crazy. They were like, you're buying a printing press. You're not. Are you going back in time? But I loved that it was so timeless and so tangible and literally like, it felt so good to get my hands dirty. And, you know, the end of the day you're like, sweaty and you have ink all over yourself. And it was just so, so rewarding to have this physical thing that you make. Because when I was in production, it's like you work for weeks on this thing and at the end of the day, it's like a 30 second commercial on TV. You can't do anything with it. So Wedding Invitations was this, like, entirely different, like, beautiful art form that I just became obsessed with, which I inherently am not a very bridal person. It's not that I was drawn to weddings. It just so happened that again, my friends were getting married. I had the opportunity to beg them to let me print their wedding invitations for them. And I loved the limitations within the project itself. Letterpress has its own limitations in terms of the medium. It's a single color, it's a flat piece. You have basically like two planes to work with, which is the paper and the area of impression. But then once you also add the constraints of creating a wedding invitation, you know, it's like, okay, I want to create this beautiful piece of art, but it also needs to convey information. I need to say who's getting married and where. So I really liked kind of having those kind confines to design within and create within.
- [10:34]
Amber Aiesi
It makes sense that it would be within the wedding world because that really is like, the only major place that people are doing these things other than, like, greeting cards and maybe art prints and things like that too. It's so impressive how much client work you do. And you don't even just do, like, the wedding suite. It seems like you're doing things beyond that at the actual event. Like you're doing your own form of film production. Because I'm noticing that you're doing, like, the entire production of the wedding.
- [11:06]
Brit Rohrer
That. I mean, that part is so fun to me. I specifically love creating, like, a bar sign, which I know might sound like silly, but for me, it's a chance to create. I look at it like I'm creating this one original piece of art because, yes. Can you print a piece of paper, but also, could you explore other things that aren't just paper? Like, we've. I've done, like, painted plaster, etched wood, acrylic. We do a lot of, like, weaving and working with thread and things like that. So it's, again, creating this piece of art that can also convey information on tap.
- [11:37]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. And there's a wall that I have in my mind, and it was a couple months ago, and now it's kind of blurry. But was it shells or. It was a bunch of things together.
- [11:50]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, my gosh. That was one of my favorite things I've done. It was all these urchins that we laser cut out of frame.
- [11:55]
Amber Aiesi
That's what it was.
- [11:56]
Brit Rohrer
The venue was at a place on the beach where there are a lot of sea urchins and the bride wanted to use them. So we laser cut, I think about like, 500 of these, like, really delicate urchins. And then it was so fun to create this giant installation with them. And then the more fun part with me, you know, putting on my, like, production logistics hat was building this thing that then had to be taken apart and mailed on site to be assembled. So we did this hidden puzzle piece and jig underneath it all so it could all come apart. That was probably my happiest day of the year. Honestly, I was just like, I love this. I'm just getting to on the floor in piles of paper and arrange these in a way that's, like, beautiful yet functional. And that's what I want to do every day of my life.
- [12:40]
Amber Aiesi
It stood out to me so much, too. And now I feel like it should be in an art gallery or it's like, it really is a piece of art. It's like, one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Where is it now?
- [12:54]
Brit Rohrer
Thank you. Honestly, I don't know. There is a local place, an organization that I work with sometimes that we had talked about me doing, like, a permanent installation on the wall, you know, using that same technique, which is something I really want to do. So I'm trying to manifest that for.
- [13:09]
Amber Aiesi
2025, because, like, it was one of those pieces that you could even see in anthropology, like, their displays and all of that. They get very artful with those things. And I could see a lot of your work fitting into that world, too.
- [13:22]
Brit Rohrer
That's so funny, because on. If I'm ever feeling like, a design block, we have an anthropology maybe, like, a mile and a half away. I can just walk there. Like, I walk on this, like, beautiful wooded path, and I go to anthropology and I poke around and I look at displays because they're so incredible. Like, the window artist there and the materials they use and everything is. Are so unique.
- [13:43]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's true. That's a really good source of inspiration. Do you have any others that you do when you have a creative block?
- [13:50]
Brit Rohrer
I go to the wine section of. I look at alcohol, labels.
- [13:56]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, and really fun place, too. Like, kind of a candy store for designers. Ooh, look at this label. What are they doing here?
- [14:05]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, I have creative block all the time. When I'm tasked to create a custom design and you're looking at a blank Adobe Illustrator file, it's the most, like, suffocating feeling ever.
- [14:15]
Amber Aiesi
You're going from, like, CEO, like, logistics person back into the actual design, and that's really hard to switch that.
- [14:24]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, I try to compartmentalize it. I find myself swapping back and forth. But I found that to really, like, focus on design, I need to have a day where I'm at home and I'm not at the studio, which is, like, bustling and busy. So I. I work from home, and I really try to compartmentalize the days where I'm, like, my creative days and then my admin days. It's like, nothing new. But the best thing to do to find inspiration is to just turn off your computer and to go. I go for a run or I go to the beach or just do something that's in nature. The second you step away from the screen is like, the second the ideas come.
- [14:57]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's true. It's like a lot of pressure just sitting there. And once you take that pressure off, then the ideas flow.
- [15:05]
Brit Rohrer
Yes, exactly.
- [15:07]
Amber Aiesi
And then. So today we're going to talk about Corita Kent. And it was your idea to talk about her too. And so I would love to know what draws you to her.
- [15:18]
Brit Rohrer
I embarrassingly was only introduced to Creeda a few years ago, which actually the more I've researched her, the more embarrassing that is because she in my mind should be so incredibly well known. She should be right up there in my mind.
- [15:33]
Amber Aiesi
Yes.
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Brit Rohrer
As Universal recognizes Andy Warhol. She's incredible. She was an artist and an educator and a nun and an activist. But to me the best thing was that like this package as a whole was so unique and striking because she was this tiny 100 pound woman in a nun's habit making these progressive, brightly colored, sometimes radical art prints calling for civil rights and peace and love and all of this stuff. So it's the most unique package that I just found endlessly fascinating.
- [16:06]
Amber Aiesi
Oh, absolutely. So to talk through her life a little more too. So her journey starts in Iowa. She was born in 1918. Her family nurtured her creativity, which is kind of unusual for that era too. You don't usually want women to get into art or. I don't think that's a very natural or normal thing. She got a BA from Immaculate Heart College and then she earned her MA in art history at USC and went to high school in la. So she definitely is from la. Even though she was born in Iowa, it feels like her whole story really is here. And it was around the time that she graduated from USC that she began experimenting with screen printing and silk screening. And she purchased a DIY kit. And this was a pivotal moment in her artistic career. It reminds me a lot of you and that like turning point of I have this thing in my hands now and I'm just gonna create.
- [17:15]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. And I loved when I was, you know, doing my deep dive on her that she. Well, I do have to shout out that she did go to Otis for a summer, which is an art school here in la. And that's actually where I took letterpress classes. Which is funny because when I was at Otis I wasn't like, the walls here should be covered where their work. But they weren't my knowledge. Yeah. I don't know if it was when she was at Otis or USC or somewhere, but she took a screen printing class like on a whim. That was what her introduction to Screen printing was, which I thought was so interesting of how that totally shaped her life and her legacy.
- [17:48]
Amber Aiesi
She said that her first kit was the spark that lit a fire in her transforming her approach to art.
- [17:56]
Brit Rohrer
And I think it's important to also address that. Like, she chose screen printing also because it was such an accessible medium. It was affordable, it was aligned with mass communication. And I think that also speaks to her beliefs, is that art wasn't this thing that was super precious or only for the wealthy. It was supposed to convey a message and to be accessible.
- [18:16]
Amber Aiesi
And while she was continuing to grow as an artist, she was also teaching. I feel like this part is very common for women in this era too. In fact, a lot of women went to school school in order to have a teaching career. I would say that wasn't fully unusual, but I would say her approach to teaching was really unique.
- [18:37]
Brit Rohrer
Oh yeah.
- [18:38]
Amber Aiesi
She became a very sought after teacher at Immaculate Heart College, eventually becoming the chair of the art department. And her classes became famous for their avant garde methods, attracting people like Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Eames, Buckminster Fuller. And there's a quote that said her classes were a place of freedom and creativity, where rules were tools to be bent, broken or reinvented. And I love that she was already really inspiring in that environment. And then her work began incorporating bold, text driven designs that combined advertising imagery with spiritual and political messages, like you pointed out. And it was during this period that Corita transformed the college's annual Mary's Day procession into a vibrant, inclusive community celebration, embodying her ethos of unity.
- [19:35]
Brit Rohrer
Those photos of the Mary's Day celebration, once Karita got involved are so iconic. It is like the quintessential 60s peace and love. Like flower hair crowns with like all of these really cool, you know, homemade signs on like boxes that are so artistic. Like, her influence was just so. Just unbelievable and like radical.
- [19:59]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. And I love that visual of just like a bunch of nuns in a row holding these like, peace and love signs and sunflowers and all of that. That's so fun.
- [20:12]
Brit Rohrer
And also I think there's so much to talk about, the rules, which I have printed here. But yeah, if we want to talk, because I know you mentioned like, her students and what an incredible teacher she was. There's a book, I bought it for this. It's called Learning by Heart. It's the rules book that has quotes from a student that worked under her, which I thought was so incredible that you have people that have a direct influence that had the benefit of working under this avant Garde teacher who really pushed, like, creative boundaries and taught the students to work and see the world with this new lens, which I think is so interesting. Like, you mentioned how she saw inspiration and signage and things like that. She would have her students go the grocery store, and that was, like, the place where you would get inspiration. And it also ties back to her infusing the spirituality and this activism in the mundane, which she did. If you look at her work, she pairs these commercial iconography or slogans with this, like, religious or spiritual script or text or things like that. But I think the way she taught her students to. To look at the world through a new lens, also through the viewfinder, which she popularizes. So instead of looking at my curtains that are hanging here, it's maybe I look through the viewfinder and I look specifically at the way the shadow is playing off the wall and things like that. So it's really just this playful energy that she brought to the sense of exploration.
- [21:36]
Amber Aiesi
To touch on that a little more. She was challenging her students to see the world differently and sometimes asking them to create 200 drawings in one session. And so they would use their hands as a camera or, like, just to focus on small, overlooked details around them. One former student said she would say, look, really look as she guided them through this exercise and helping them to notice the extraordinary in the mundane. And I think that's so beautiful and such a great practice to just pause, look at the world around you, view it in a different way.
- [22:14]
Brit Rohrer
She would say, like, everything is source material, and it doesn't matter. What if it's, like, a majestic landscape or if it's a newspaper on the floor, like, everything is source material.
- [22:25]
Amber Aiesi
Going back to the actual 10 rules, I have to talk about the visual of it for a second. I don't fully know, but do you think that this is typeset and letterpressed?
- [22:37]
Brit Rohrer
So I was wondering that. Because if you're typesetting letterpress, for the most part, the letters are on a straight line. And I was. I actually, like, got into the weeds of trying to figure out, like, the mechanics of how she made her screen, specifically because my husband's a screen printer, so I know a decent amount about screen printing. But I was trying to think about how she did this in a time before we're so spoiled now with computers and everything.
- [23:00]
Amber Aiesi
I think it might be letraset. Have you ever used those where it's like a film of letters and it has the whole Alphabet and you, like, rub each letter on at a time?
- [23:12]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, no. But that would make sense because there's not a common. Like they bounce around the baseline.
- [23:17]
Amber Aiesi
The rule.
- [23:18]
Brit Rohrer
And I was. That's not a letterpress thing.
- [23:20]
Amber Aiesi
That's my best guess because I don't really know. But now seeing how it is very like jumpy and the letters get uncomfortably close. Which you could never do in letterpress then. Yeah, like it must have been very like hand applied lettering.
- [23:36]
Brit Rohrer
She made these rules. Sometimes they are attributed to John Cage, who's a composer, but they're not. They were the rules of the Immaculate Heart College, but she made them with like her students. And I think there's one specific student that was the one that actually laid. That laid them out. And maybe the method you're talking about. But there. Okay, our rules. Yeah, but they're incredible.
- [23:56]
Amber Aiesi
So just to like go over the 10 as quickly as possible. First one, find a place you trust and trust it for a while. Rules for a student. Pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students. Rules for a teacher. Pull everything out of your students. Consider everything an experiment. Be self disciplined. Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail. There's only make. And then the only rule is work, which is the one on there. And then if you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch on to things. I love that part. That reminds me of you too. And the fact that you're so ambitious and just go. And it's just created this, this really big thing that you've made out of just one press. And then don't try to create and analyze at the same time. There are different processes which again, it's like that left brain, right brain moment and having to quickly switch brains.
- [24:59]
Brit Rohrer
I love that where she says like analyze is taking apart and creating is putting together.
- [25:04]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's true.
- [25:06]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah.
- [25:07]
Amber Aiesi
And then be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. We're breaking all the rules, even our own rules. And then she leaves a little helpful hint at the bottom. Always be around, come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often save everything. It might come in handy later. So inspiring.
- [25:32]
Brit Rohrer
They're so good. And then the best part is a little nod at the end that says there should be new rules next week. Which I think is such a comment on the rigor and the serious with which she approached, you know, her, her discipline. Like she had such a discipline when it came to art. In terms of the volume of art she Asked her students to make and how much she wanted them to spend time on it. And she was just so disciplined. But. And then also there's like a little wink and a nod where it's. Don't take yourself too seriously, though. Like, these could all change tomorrow. Yeah, I love that it's create art, but don't be too precious with it.
- [26:07]
Amber Aiesi
Yes. Oh, that's so good. And always a good reminder. I'm sure that this poster is sold somewhere. And just to, like, have that as a constant reminder is really valuable too. There's been some teachers who've reached out to me after I posted the reel about Corita Kent. And they said that they have her rules in their classroom too. A lot of art teachers incorporate that, and I think that's really cool.
- [26:32]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, yeah, they're up in the studio now in my studio. Because, like, rule number six, it says, like, nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, only make. And I'm like, that's a joke around our studio. It's because I always say, if there's one day where I don't make a mistake, like, that'll be a miracle. Because I think that's a process of creating, is making mistakes and messing up. And it's the process with not only creating, but, like, building a business or anything. And it's really, there are no mistakes. It's how you learn from them and how you move on and sometimes from your mistakes. That's where the true art comes from.
- [27:06]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, I think that's such a great lesson. Switching over to her activism, she really got into more activism through the 60s, and when she was named chair of the art department, then she was really addressing these major issues like civil rights and poverty was really important to her and the Vietnam War. And she was even featured on the COVID of Newsweek in 1967 as a symbol of the merging worlds of art, faith, and activism. She was getting more criticism from the conservative church hierarchy, including Cardinal James McIntyre. And she ended up leaving the order to work independently because really, her art was her activism. She believed in bringing light to darkness and turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. And it felt like nothing was gonna stop her. One poster from this era, too, that really comes to mind is a poster that says stop the bombing. It was a very stark anti war statement in bold blue, red and white, and became one of her most iconic pieces.
- [28:22]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, and I think it's also important not to get too in the weeds to talk about the Catholic Church at that time. But this was a big shift in the approach of the Catholic Church at this time, there was this period called the Vatican II where the Catholic Church was trying to embrace this. This more. I don't want to say like a fresher, more liberal take because it's still the Catholic Church, but it was a new era for that. And I think she was really encouraged by this new Vatican 2 time period. And a lot of the progressives at the church really appreciated her way of thinking. It was like an innovative approach and making it more, you know, making faith and art more accessible in everyday life. And then you have conservative Catholics who thought that her mix of the secular and the everyday was unsettling. That's when I think it's like when she requested the formal. I think it's like a dispensation, it's called, like, of her vows. It wasn't a really powerful move because it almost was even like more of her being an activist. It wasn't a rejection of Catholicism. It was more of a step in living in a way that was aligned with her activism.
- [29:31]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's so impressive and honestly, really brave of her to do something like that. And she was essentially already surrounded by a lot of progressive thinkers at Immaculate Heart. And so it seemed more like a statement that she needed to make to the church as a whole and maybe to anyone who thinks that way.
- [29:55]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. And even, I think it was two years after she requested the dispensation of her vows. I think it was like the majority of the sisters at the church voted to leave the order and reconstitute themselves as a community versus as part of this Catholic Church. She just had this radical approach of just like, love is all you need, which I know it can sound very trite and hippie ish, but it. It really is true. And in her art and everything, and also just to shout out if anyone's a stationer like me, she made one of the most popular USPS love stamps.
- [30:30]
Amber Aiesi
Oh, yeah, yeah. That love stamp is. It's from 1985 and it's based on her rainbow swash. That's this 150 foot mural on a Boston gas tank that she created in 1971. And to this day, it remains the world's largest copyrighted artwork, which is so cool for a woman to have that claim.
- [30:57]
Brit Rohrer
And I. You know, it's worth noting that later in life she gave all of her copyrights and everything to, I think, the Immaculate Heart or something like that. So it's like while she explored commercial themes and stuff, this wasn't in a place of her making a profit. It was truly in a place of getting the message out and making art in everyday stuff.
- [31:15]
Amber Aiesi
In fact, it was in 1986, at the age of 67, that she died of cancer in Boston. And even in her final years, she continued creating and documenting her art and life meticulously. And so she must have been aware or having been diagnosed with cancer and everything. She probably had the awareness to think, okay, I should put my archive somewhere or give it to someone. And that's a really big thing to note and to think about and remember because there's so many women we talk about on this podcast whose archive is just completely lost or slowly gathered over time. And so it's, it's really great that she did that.
- [31:59]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, it's incredible. And then here in LA we have the Karita Art center, which is going to open again in March. I just think that is like so cool. And again, yeah, I don't think it's like, it's not a for the profit, for profit place. It's like her whole. She didn't ever sign her prints or number her prints or anything like that because she didn't want to put this like high price tag on them. She wanted to be. She wanted everything to be accessible.
- [32:23]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's so true. I want to talk about her artistic style a little bit too. She merged the sacred and the secular, combining scripture with advertising imagery and creating thought provoking art. And someone once said, like a priest or magician, she transformed the mundane into something luminous. That was her friend Harvey Cox that said that. But her pieces juxtaposed corporate logos with spiritual and humanist messages. And some works to note, here is Love youe brother from 1969. And this was a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. And then another one is the Lord is with the 1951, a print that earned her top prizes early in her career.
- [33:12]
Brit Rohrer
That one is so unique because while it's still this somewhat abstract and unique use of colors in that piece, it's. If you've held that piece up next to Wonder Bread, you would not think it was the same artist. But it is. In the 50s, it's. Her work was more secular and it had more religious figures and it was a little bit more Byzantine. And then in the 60s it became this more like pop art, radical colors. And I don't want to say childlike because I think as anyone knows, it's anyone who's worked in like modern art knows that sometimes the more simple things are, the harder they are almost. But it does have this like sense of play and adventure and simplicity.
- [33:49]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. And then she does a lot of layering, too. Layering typography over each other really makes you sit and stare at it and draw out all of the messages that you can. I love the way that thinking especially about her viewfinder method, that in some of her work too, where it's a cropping of something and it takes you a minute to maybe recognize that familiar sign or logo or thing that we see again and again. And then she layers it with an important message too. And so I feel like the thought that goes into all of this at the Creta Art center, is it a gallery of her work?
- [34:28]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, it's a gallery. They have a lot of original pieces. And I think they also have, like, workshops or, you know, some things like that.
- [34:34]
Amber Aiesi
But I bet it'd be so cool to walk around and just sit with every piece and read it and think through it, because I feel like she put. Put so much time and attention into each of her posters.
- [34:48]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, yeah, for sure. And with screen printing, you're just able to get this, like, opaque, vibrant, like, lay of color that's just so eye catching.
- [34:58]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. It looks like one of the most expensive ones to rec or the biggest record of one of her pieces is the piece called Life is a Complicated Business and it sold for the price of 22,000 in 2021, which I would say is not that much. I think it deserves to be way more than that. But it's true. She wouldn't want that. And I think she likes the fact that some of these pieces can be seen and spread around and all of that.
- [35:32]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, I think it's like this tug of war of thinking that, like, this person's art should be so much more valuable. But then at the same time, you don't want almost that capitalism and commercialism to almost taint this otherwise pretty spiritual piece of art.
- [35:46]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's so true. And one thing to talk about too is I know obviously she's an artist and this is a design podcast, but I think one thing to point out is that she really was seen as a designer in that sense because poster design is very much a thing. And even though her work bridges the worlds of design and art, it really can be seen as both. And she really is taking typography and messaging and putting it together to create something that has a message or that has a meaning. And I also think that her approach is very design oriented too, where she's pulling from resources and pulling from other things and creating something bigger out of that. And I think that's very much a design approach of utilizing the resources around you and especially some that might have a bigger meaning or message to them.
- [36:45]
Brit Rohrer
Oh, yeah, for sure. Creating art out of the mundane. And then also the way she would have her script, which was, like, messy but beautiful and, you know, and it would be, like, small in between the letters, or would be these really powerful messages. I had to, like, zoom in and, like, dissect sometimes what they say. And the messages are so incredibly powerful and beautiful. And I'm like, how is this on its own? Not, like, one of the most famous quotes ever.
- [37:11]
Amber Aiesi
There's a.
- [37:12]
Brit Rohrer
It says it could be said of him, or it could be said of them or something. And it has a picture of Martin Luther King and jfk, and it has this, like, incredible quote. And there's just so much of her own writing as well that she does and that she sneaks into these, like, really bold graphics that it almost looks from far away. Like it's like scribbles or just part of the composition. And that then you read it closer and you realize it's this incredibly powerful message.
- [37:35]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, we've talked about that kind of scale difference in other women's work, too, where, like, Jacqueline Casey we talked about in the last episode. And then I think we touch on this a little bit on Marian Banshee's episode, too, where there's this idea of seeing something from far away, that initial, really bold thing, pulling you in and then engaging you to read the smaller text. And so I think that was exactly what Corita was doing here. Here was pulling the reader or the viewer in and really making sure that they're going to listen to her message.
- [38:11]
Brit Rohrer
There's this one, one print, and I don't know if it's, like, formally called bells or if I just know it as bells, but it's bells, which are like a logo from a potato chip, I think. And then if you read it, it actually. It equates the potato chip to transmutation, I think it's called, which is. Am I getting that right? Is it transmutation, which is in the Catholic Church, when. When the priest blesses something and it becomes, like, the body of Christ or something. So it, like, likened that to the potato chip, which is just, like, wild. Or then you have the very controversial piece, which was where she called Mother Mary the juiciest tomato of all, I think. And it's like. But it's like these messages, and it wasn't sexual at all. It was just saying that there's beauty and spirituality in everything, but it's like these messages that are almost, like, hidden. You have to work a little bit to see them. But I don't think that that's because she wanted to hide them. I think it's because she wanted to draw you in with this big, bold print, and then you have to look closer and then really read it and then sit with it and think about it.
- [39:11]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, absolutely. One thing that I, like, really wanted to touch on as we close here, too, is that she believed the world is full of wonder if we slow down to see it. And I think that's such a beautiful message for everyone. Designer or artist or not, everyone should slow down and really view the world. And her story is full of courage and creativity and conviction. And it's through her art that she challenged conventions and she inspired social change, and she redefined the boundaries of faith and activism. And her legacy reminds us that even in the face of adversity, the power of art can transform the world. I'd love to hear what is it that inspires you the most about Corita? Now, going through her story and looking back at everything, everything.
- [40:09]
Brit Rohrer
I'm like, do we have three more hours? I think as a. Personally, as a lapsed Catholic, there's a lot there I could go into that I won't.
- [40:17]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah, that's my episode.
- [40:20]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. My approach and my viewpoints of the Catholic Church and secular religion versus what it is, true spirituality and what is really better for humanity. But I think it's this juxtaposition between the nun in the habit and someone that if you saw this tiny woman wearing the habit, you would think something. And then to see this art that she creates and this juxtaposition between the play and the work, which she created a word for called plork. I don't know if you.
- [40:46]
Amber Aiesi
Oh. Play and work is play and work.
- [40:49]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. And it says it's embodying the belief and the importance of combining joy, creativity, and effort in both. Both art and life. So it's like you play to get unstuck. And again, it's like the rigor of her rules and the rigor of the assignments you would give her students, but also this playfulness that she had, not only in her approach towards things, but also in the final product of her work and the color she used and everything.
- [41:14]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. Should we go get plork tattoos together?
- [41:18]
Brit Rohrer
Yes.
- [41:19]
Amber Aiesi
It's like, the funniest word, isn't it?
- [41:21]
Brit Rohrer
I was like, no way. That was her. But it is.
- [41:24]
Amber Aiesi
It's Plark.
- [41:25]
Brit Rohrer
And I'm like, how is this not a word that's like, in our everyday vernacular? But it totally sums up her approach.
- [41:31]
Amber Aiesi
It sounds like an onomatopoeia for, I don't know, something. Something just plopping down. Plorts.
- [41:37]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. Plork. And I think just as a creative. Not comparing, obviously, what I do to the activism of Corita Kent, but just as a creative in general or all creative. I think it's that importance of. Of looking at everything through a new lens. Dissecting things, maybe turn yourself upside down and look at the world through this new lens, I think is just, like, such a important way to explore this process of creativity and of art.
- [42:03]
Amber Aiesi
With all of that said, too, another thing that I think about is that she uses her craft for good. And that's a good reminder for me too, because sometimes, you know, we're just, like, churning out work for clients and doing things that their request. But that it's true. To find some kind of meaning for it and to find ways to do good for those things.
- [42:26]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah.
- [42:27]
Amber Aiesi
Is really her approach to life. And I think that's always a great reminder and so beautiful that she's done that.
- [42:34]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah. So I'm officially obsessed with her, and I'm gonna start a grassroots. I don't know how grassroots, because there's an organization, but I'm gonna. I really want to try to spread the word more about this incredible artist again, who. I think she should be up there with these other pop artists.
- [42:49]
Amber Aiesi
Yeah. Sometimes I think we in la, maybe a lot of LA people know more about her because she was here, and especially people who lived during her era in the 60s and 70s. I feel like a lot of older people know about her, but it's true. Not a lot of young people know about her. And it's. I hope that her legacy continues to live on and just. Just keeps growing.
- [43:14]
Brit Rohrer
So we'll have to go to the Art center when it created Art center when it opens in March.
- [43:18]
Amber Aiesi
Let's do it.
- [43:20]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah.
- [43:21]
Amber Aiesi
Thank you for joining me.
- [43:23]
Brit Rohrer
Thank you so much, Amber.
- [43:24]
Amber Aiesi
This is so fun. Good luck with your really busy season. And as Karita would say, be happy whenever you can manage it and enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think during this stressful period.
- [43:40]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah, it's lighter than you think.
- [43:43]
Amber Aiesi
And Plork.
- [43:44]
Brit Rohrer
Yeah.
- [43:53]
Amber Aiesi
Okay. I have major chills after talking through Kurita's story. Her work is so inspiring, and the fact that she used her art to challenge the status quo and remind us of the power in ordinary moments. Is so incredible. From her time as a nun to her groundbreaking works in the pop art movement, she is such a trailblazer. And thank you so much Brit for joining me today and sharing your perspective. It's always fun to hear how much you value Corito's work and even the inspiring methods you take in your own work. I encourage you you all to explore Brit Rohr's work at Swell Press. You can find her at swellpress.com or on Instagram at swellpress. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave a review or share it with someone you think would love Karita Story Reviews and shares help me so much to grow this podcast, and if you'd like to support the show even further, consider donating through the link in the show notes. Every contribution, big or small, will help me continue sharing these important stories. Thank you for spending your time with me and Britt today. Don't forget to join us next time as we dive into another remarkable story of a woman designer. And until then, let's redesign history by celebrating women.