Learning by Heart, teachings to free the creative spirit.

The book that changed my creative life.

Feb 28, 2024

If you’re familiar with my teachings and writings, it’s going to be no surprise that a book written by Corita Kent changed my life. If you’re new here, welcome to the world of pop artist and educator nun, Sister Corita Kent. She’s the teacher I aspire to be.

Every spring, I enthusiastically share her text Learning by Heart with each of my undergraduate art education students. It’s technically a weekly reading that I’ve designed to complete visually (because that’s just more fun). As Corita and Jan write, “it's meant to be a workbook” (p. 11).

This March & April, I want YOU to join me in this reading & journaling study. Each week, I’ll share my own journaling, reflection questions, and creative exercises to complete alongside a chapter from Learning by Heart. If this sounds like creative fun you wanna get in on, there are two things to do before it kicks off on Wednesday, March 6th, they are:

Become a paid subscriber! This is an eight-week journaling study March - April, to get full access to each weekly check-in, subscribe today!
Get your own copy of Learning by Heart by Corita Kent and Jan Steward. Purchase here and support the Corita Art Center! I tell all of my students, this is the kind of book you’ll want on your studio desk forever.

Here’s what March is going to look like,

March 6th, What is Creativity?

Learning by Heart Chapter 1: Beginning (pg. 2-11)

March 13th, The Creative Process, Part I (Personal)

Learning by Heart Chapter 2: Looking (pg. 12-39)

March 20th, Why is Creativity Important?

Learning by Heart Chapter 3: Sources (pg. 40-63)

March 27th, Creativity in Psychology

Learning by Heart Chapter 4: Structure (pg. 64-87)

I’d be so stoked for you to draw along next month. For now though, let’s dive a little deeper into our course text Learning by Heart.

“As teachers we try to participate in the process of empowering people to be the artists they are. And as artists, we accept responsibility to create – to realize our immense powers to change things, to fit things together in a new way. As artists we work everyday. We make our own lives every day; we care for our family every day. It is hard daily work, this creative process” (p. 4).

Yeah, that’s what this book is about.

Here’s a look at my copy of Learning by Heart. It’s filled with post-its, pencil marks, highlights, and the occasional coffee spill - I pull from it constantly.

This text has given me many perspectives and reflections as both an educator and artist. They’ve been reflected in layers throughout my visual journals so many times, that to truly understand how I feel, I had to figure out a way to share it. That’s what my discussion prompts for students are. They’re designed to give visual journal-ers a place to connect, while embarking on a journey of their own discovery.

“Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us” (p. 4).

This opening line has molded my way of thinking both in the classroom and in my own life. As a teacher, this belief in creativity is so important to me, especially when it comes to how many artists have sat in my art rooms. Corita’s students often spoke of “how their art education had changed their lives—how what they had learned there spilled over into the rest of the world and changed it too” (p. 8). That’s why being someone’s art teacher is a big freakin' deal. This makes the painting curriculum more than color techniques, this view switches to seeing what one’s own creativity is.

Corita waits until page 104 when she finally divulges that “when we speak of the creative process in this book, we mean the art of connection making.” However, she does spend chapters 1-4 helping you find new ways to look, sources, and structures to making your own connections. Each chapter leads you into poetry, connections, and assignments to guide you through Corita’s classroom themes.

“Structure makes our creativity possible, by providing a framework to build on” (p. 66).

But I don’t want to spoil it all. I hope you’ll consider reading along and journaling with me these next eight weeks. Seminar starts on March 6th.