Mayor Walsh declares day honoring the artist who designed that big, colorful Dorchester tank
Today is officially Corita Kent Day in Boston.
Kent (left) and her most recognizable work, 1971’s “Rainbow Swash.’’
Sister Mary Corita Kent passed in 1986, but not before leaving a lasting artistic impression on the city of Boston. On Friday, Mayor Marty Walsh declared November 20 Corita Kent Day to honor Kent’s contributions to local art and pop culture.
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Kent was born in Iowa, not Boston, but after having spent many years as a nun, she left the order and moved here to pursue a career in art. In the two decades that followed, Kent’s pop culture-influenced creations made an impression that grew far beyond Boston’s borders. She designed stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, displayed work in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and is now memorialized by the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the most widely viewed piece in Kent’s collection is passed by thousand of cars on 93 every day. “Rainbow Swash,’’ built in 1971, is the vibrantly painted natural gas tank in Dorchester that has become something of a landmark to Bostonians. The piece has had its fair share of controversy (for example, some believe the profile of former Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh was originally painted into the blue stripe). It’s also the largest copyrighted work of art in the world.
Now, on what would be Kent’s 97th birthday, and in honor of Harvard Art Museums showcasing her work in the ongoing “Corita Kent and the Language of Pop,’’ Mayor Walsh is honoring the late artist.
“Corita Kent spoke freely through art about everything from politics to war and religion to consumerism,’’ Walsh wrote in his proclamation. “She often combined handwritten text with commercial and other slogans in her artwork to emphasize her messages of faith, love, and peace.’’
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