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The spirit of Sister Corita keeps on kicking as master puppet maker Beth Peterson leads a Labor of Love a workshop in creating puppets and story-telling at the Courtyard Galleries at the Hollywood Lutheran Church.

From the Corita Art Center:

“Puppetmaking workshop with Beth Peterson, puppet maker extraordinaire. Inspired by Corita and Jan Steward’s Learning by Heart, Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit, Beth has been creating puppets, masks, pageants and parades all over Los Angeles for over 16 years with schools, community and professional theatres. Join us for puppet-making and story telling from 11am until 2pm at the Courtyard Galleries. Next stop, Sunset Junction!”

More on the sensational Sister Corita:

• THURSDAY (Aug 5): Sister Corita Art Silkscreen Mash-Up & Film Screening @ Levi’s Workshop SF
• SATURDAY (July 24): Sister Corita Art Silkscreen Mash-Up @ Blue Rooster Art
• Sister Corita is the Nowness
• FRIDAY (June 4): Los Feliz Art Walk Featuring Sister Corita’s Rebel Nuns & Aaron Rose
• THURSDAY: Viva Corita!
• Flux You Very Much!
• TONIGHT: Get Fluxed With Us and Sister Corita
• Flux You!
• SATURDAY: Love
• Chasing Corita
• Continuing Corita Coverage
• Sister Corita IS Your Valentine
• These Rules Rule
• A. Rose is A. Rose is A. Rose

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If you know me, you know that I’m not just a huge fan of Sister Corita’s amazingly bold art. You would also know that I was fortunate enough to re-team with our Beautiful Losers crew early last year to edit a short film about Corita’s illustrious and inspirational life with Become a Microscope: 90 Statements on Sister Corita. We were able to help raise the Corita awareness by showing people just how influential Corita was as an artist, nun and as a person. And now this weekend even more people will be able to get their hands on Corita’s work, literally, as the Corita Art Silkscreen Mash-Up goes down at Blue Rooster Art in Los Feliz.

Featuring the use of elements from Corita’s silkscreens for the first time ever and sponsored in part by some very good peeps at the Corita Art Center, Fresh Pressed and Gelato Bar among others, this afternoon of art making in my hood is one that I’m so sad to miss but truly hope you can make it to go create yourself!

From the ever loving Sasha Carrera at the Corita Art Center:

“The Corita Art Center and Blue Rooster Art Supplies in Los Feliz are offering a first time ever MASH UP of elements Corita used in her own mid-1960s pop prints. Best known for her innovative and provocative juxtaposition of images and words, Corita combined day-glo colors with spiritual statements, pop song lyrics with shapes from traffic signs and food packaging. On July 24th, we’re offering fans and friends the chance to recombine these elements in their own unique ways.

The resurgence in Corita’s life and work (she died in 1986) suggests that her anti-war stance, her pop aesthetic, her iconoclastic methodology and her new age spirituality have tapped a chord that’s resonating in the world today. Participants will be able to silkscreen their own tee shirts, tote bags, posters and canvases. Proceeds will benefit the Corita Art Center of the Immaculate Heart Community, Corita’s former religious order.

So what are you waiting for? Get with the Action! For more information please visit www.corita.org or call Sasha Carrera 323-466-2157 ext 1021, sasha@corita.org.”

More on the super Sister Corita:

• Sister Corita is the Nowness
• FRIDAY (June 4): Los Feliz Art Walk Featuring Sister Corita’s Rebel Nuns & Aaron Rose
• THURSDAY: Viva Corita!
• Flux You Very Much!
• TONIGHT: Get Fluxed With Us and Sister Corita
• Flux You!
• SATURDAY: Love
• Chasing Corita
• Continuing Corita Coverage
• Sister Corita IS Your Valentine
• These Rules Rule
• A. Rose is A. Rose is A. Rose

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Early last year we followed up our documentary Beautiful Losers with a short film just as inspiring and heartfelt about Sister Corita Kent-a revolutionary nun who shared her unique vision of creating art with her friends and students in 1960’s Los Angeles. During a time when the Catholic church was none to pleased with these new and off-beat ideas, Sister Corita excelled. The film, titled Become a Microscope-90 Statements on Sister Corita, was created in association with the Corita Art Center in honor of what would have been Sister Corita’s 90th birthday.

An excerpt from the film is now available to view on the Nowness by clicking here or any image below.

Crafted by most of our Beautiful Losers crew, the film was deftly directed by Aaron Rose; produced by do-it-all-man Jon Barlow; features a hauntingly beautiful original score by Money Mark and Becky Stark; great graphic design by our great pal Keith Scharwath; stellar sonics by sound designer extraordinaire Eddie Kim; Corita’s work come to life through a small After Effects army including Alex Dervin, Max Erdenberger, Miguel Bautista and a ton of other skilled individuals; and edited by yours truly-me (Lenny Mesina).

Graphic design created by Keith Scharwath. See more of Keith’s “90 statements” here.

The film’s “ABC” sequence visualized by Max Erdenberger featuring the music of Money Mark and Becky Stark.

Corita’s art also received the After Effects treatment courtesy of Alex Dervin, Miguel Bautista and many, many more.

We were also very fortunate to have access to an archive of material made about Sister Corita including films by Haskell Wexler, Baylis Glascock, Cal Bernstein and Alex Singer.

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So sorry for the super late posts today people of the internets. Hope you get out and enjoy your second summertime weekend!

Los Feliz Art Walk featuring Sister Corita’s Rebel Nuns interviewed by Aaron Rose.

From A. Rose:

“Join us for a fascinating panel discussion about artist, educator, and “rebel nun” Sister Corita! Hear from Corita’s students and former sisters who defied the Cardinal, renounced their vows, and redefined themselves as an independent ecumenical community – dedicated to those radical ideals of
peace and justice! This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the independent Immaculate Heart community.”

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Another friendly with a weekend eventy as Corrie Seigel from the Corita Art Center helps host the inaugural show of the newly formed Chinatown gallery Actual Size, with works by Eamon Ore-Giron, Bobbi Woods and a musical performance by Butchy Fuego in This is the Beginning.

From Corie:

“I have started a gallery in Chinatown with 4 other artists. Our objective is to foster a malleable art space that engages the Los Angeles art community through exhibits, public projects, and artist created programming. The gallery is called “Actual Size Los Angeles”, based off the title of an Ed Ruscha painting and playfully referencing the small store front we are renting.”

And more about the show from the Actual Sizers:

“Both Bobbi Woods and Eamon Ore-Giron work with pre-existing text and imagery. They examine the manner in which media is packaged and represented. In dealing with this collective mythology (whether it be movie posters, sections of ancient text, or record sleeve covers) these artists re-see, appropriate, pay homage, and translate these works into something that is theirs, something that conveys a distinct meaning and sensibility that was latent or absent in the original work.

For the opening event, a performance by Butchy Fuego will charge and disrupt the viewing experience with loud ritualized drumming.”

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Sister Corita was a highly influential and inspirational art teacher and nun who created controversial pop art in Los Angeles during the 60’s. Earlier this year I edited a short film directed by Aaron Rose with a score by Money Mark to commemorate what would have been Corita’s 90th birthday. Today the art of Sister Corita will be on display and for sale at Landis Gifts & Stationery in Hollywood’s Larchmont Village. A percentage of sales all day will benefit the Corita Art Center.

Here’s an excerpt of the “ABC” song from our short film Become a Microscope-90 Statements on Sister Corita (music by Money Mark and Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond. Title design by Keith Scharwath. Motion graphics by Max Erdenberger, Alex Dervin, and Miguel Bautista. Produced by Jon Barlow and Arlo Rosner):

ABC’s from Central Office on Vimeo.

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Find yourself watching unintentional comedy and painting words while writing images in Hollywood, and then eat, drink, and be merry on the Westside before the cops come to harsh your mellow.

• Stop watching the Youtubes because the Found Footage Festival is back and ready to celebrate “laughably bad videos rescued from garbage bins, garage sales, thrift stores, and warehouses across the country.”

• The always inspiring Corita Art Center opens it’s doors to the public for Saturday’s Smithsonian sponsored Museum Day and will host workshops based on Sister Corita’s use of “text as image” special guest artist John Carrera’s use of “image as text” as seen in his book Pictorial Webster’s. The day is free to all, however the workshop is limited to 15 participants and costs $20. Advance registration required.

• And for the beach lovers and Westsiders, Venice’s Abbot Kinney Festival ends the weekend with fun for everyone with an all day extravaganza of music, art, food, and the obligatory drum circles.

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One of the funnest parts about putting together these weekend event lists is coming up with an appropriate title using the words from said events. As seen above, this weekend’s happenings has churned out the perfect storm of words. From partying with porn stars to making art with nuns, Los Angeles has a lot going for it under our overcast skies, including our beloved Lakers winning it all in Orlando this Sunday!

• Get your porn on all weekend long as Erotica LA 2009 sexys up the LA Convention Center with pornstars galore and the 40,000 estimated attendees who masturbate to them.

• Be both Cute & Dangerous at the group show of the same name at the seven-degrees gallery down in Laguna Beach.

• The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax continues June’s Comedy Death Ray (Upright Citizens Brigade) series with Bob Odenkirk (half of Mr. Show) presenting Albert Brooks’ 1979 directorial debut Real Life.

• The celebration of Sister Corita’s art and inspiring spirit just keeps on going as a modern day happening happens at the Corita Art Center in Hollywood. Complete with silk-screening, banner and flag making, music, food, a procession with pipes, the day’s festivities also include the release of the 2nd edition of Jan Steward’s Learning By Heart. Corita is definitely alive and well.

• Skaters (Tony Alva), artists (Shepard Fairey), and skateboarder artists (Mark Gonzalez) pay tribute to one of Dogtown’s legendary photographers, Wynn Miller, with the group show The Detournements of Wynn Miller at the Exhibit A Gallery on Fairfax.

• Attaboy presents A Touch of Evil with his latest drawings, paintings, sculptures, and Gooberries at the POVevolving Gallery in Chinatown.

• Childlike pop-art illustrations meet vector based computer art when J. Otto Seibold comes to Giant Robot’s GR2 on Sawtelle with his Jottobots.

• And finally, end the weekend laughing with a tribute to unorthodox cult comedian Mitch Hedberg at The Silent Movie Theater as the Cinefamily “commemorates the comic’s legacy with a screening of his TV appearances, live performances, and the pilot to his unreleased MTV reality show, The Mitch Hedberg Project. Also showing is his autobiographical 1999 feature, Los Enchiladas; directed by Hedberg, the film focuses on the humorist’s early days as a Mexican restaurant employee in the suburbs of St. Paul.”

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