BRATTLEBORO — The 2018 Catholic Worker Calendar, featuring artwork by Rita Corbin, is now available at Everyone's Books on Elliot Street.
Rita Corbin, a graphic artist and printmaker, became involved in the Catholic Worker movement while living in New York City in the 1950s. The founder, Dorothy Day, hired Corbin to make illustrations for The Catholic Worker newspaper and they became friends.
Corbin became a lifelong contributor and was one of the three primary Catholic Worker artists, along with Fritz Eichenberg and Ade Bethune. In 1954 she married Martin Corbin, editor and literary critic. They worked on Liberation magazine with activist Dave Dellinger in New Jersey where their first three children were born.
In 1964 the family moved to the Catholic Worker Farm in Tivoli, New York, where two more children were added to the family. She began publishing the Catholic Worker calendar with her original art and hand-lettering, as well as note cards and Christmas cards.
Rita and her children moved to Brattleboro in 1981, and she lived in the Brattleboro area off and on until her death in 2011. She also spent a few years in Worcester, Mass., and developed strong ties with the Catholic Worker communities there.
Her work has appeared in many well-known religious magazines including The Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal, Fellowship, and Catholic Digest. Her artwork has been shown at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, and the Sacketts Brook Gallery in Putney.
Rita died in November 2011 due to injuries from a car accident. Her children, who live in the Brattleboro area, continue to publish the calendar and cards using her artwork. Although the calendars are primarily sold by mail order through The Catholic Worker newspaper, there will be some for sale at Everyone's Books in Brattleboro during the holiday season.