This collection of Corita serigraphs and prints belonged to the late Iva Mae Carrico. Iva, a life-long poet and artist herself, was born in Great Falls, Montana and was half Native American/Indian – her mother Emma Jordan Brown’s lineage being Chippewa-Cree. As a young woman, she had a deep spiritual calling and converted to Catholicism in her late teens. Iva became a student at the College of Great Falls, where she came under the influence of Sister Mary Trinitas, an art professor at the college. Trinitas became Iva’s mentor and encouraged her pursuit of art and education as a vocation. 

Iva eventually moved to Los Angeles and settled in Glendale along with her husband and three daughters. By 1954 she discovered another “nun who taught art” at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood. This was Sister Mary Corita. Iva subsequently became a dedicated student of Corita’s and engaged in all manner of the activities and events of the art department and school. 

Iva’s involvement with Corita spanned a nearly twenty-five year period – eleven of which she served as a staff assistant – at times filling in as Corita’s de facto personal secretary, handling her correspondence along with gallery and museum bookings. 

During Iva’s years with the art department she amassed hundreds of serigraphs – Corita’s orginals as well as those of fellow students. Corita had no budget to pay her helpers: they were paid in prints! Corita happily shared her extra prints from any given run, many of which were signed by her. 

The Corita prints fall into many categories – some are incomplete, others show their age, and most have her original signature. Some have the additional distinction of being identified by Corita – in her writing – as “one of kind” or “final sheet” and many have their titles written in Corita’s hand – making these truly rare pieces. 

The students’ pieces in the collection represent a common practice of artists – sharing their art with one another. In these pieces, the Corita influence is unmistakable!! 

Mara Carrico, Iva’s daughter, has lovingly held on to this collection since Iva’s passing in 2010. After carefully curating this collection over the past year she now feels the time is right for this collection to live on with others who cherish the amazing legacy of Corita, often referred to as the pop-art nun. Corita’s art represented her advocacy for peace, social justice and civil rights and speaks as loudly today as it did seventy years ago!