Sister Corita’s 10 rules

 

The following poster was collaboration between Sister Corita and John Gage, Bohemian-spirited composer and musician. Theirs was an unlikely friendship between two artists; one visual and the other audible. Sister Corita came up with the rules but attributed Rule 10 to John Cage. Their friendship helped to promote and popularize the rules. 

Now rules were familiar to Sister Corita as she was part of a community and a religious order. She also understood the importance of practice. A religious exercise or practice propels the novice into a regular habit, forces them out of their comfort zone or nebulous world of feeling into a practical duty. But art for her was no duty, but an outward expression of an inward philosophy of being. Which included doing.

These rules are not art for art’s sake, but require picking up a brush or pen, opening the laptop, the WORD file, the story where you last left off. It is work, yes, but more than that; it is life. A state of being.

Rule #7 The only rule is work. Work begets work. The more we indulge ourselves, immerse our self in our craft, then the deeper we can go. Sometimes it is a slog, but it is showing up, butt in chair, being there for when the muse arrives. Practice.

My series on Corita inspired by:

CORITA KENT. ART AND SOUL. THE BIOGRAPHY.

By April Dammann

Published by Angel City Press, 160 pages, $40

To read the entire series, Search Corita Kent or click on tags.