$3.55 $5.95

Corita Kent was an educator, artist and social justice advocate who believed that art could be a tool for dialogue, reflection and change.

While the chair of the Art Department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, Corita asked her students to engage in "slow looking' exercises. Using a paper view finder tool that simulated the experience of using a camera, her students were able to select, isolate and examine the details of the world around them. This resulted in piles of drawings that taught the students how to slow down and see the world with fresh perspective.

This message of being present and curious permeated through every chapter of Cortia's life and work. From the 1950's until her death in 1986 her art progressed from modernist interpretations of traditional religious subjects to pop-infused political statements and introspective examinations.

The Blackwing 93 is a tribute to Corita and her message to slow down and find gratitude in the everyday. Each pencil features of the six colourful brushstrokes that made up Corita's iconic rainbow swash. Commissioned in 1971, the rainbow swash adorns a 140-foot-tall natural gas storage tank along the Interstate 93 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The pencils contain soft graphite.

5% of the proceeds from this pencil will support continued work in art education through the Corita Art Centre.

Pencils sold individually