Huh? Well, I was trying a play on the old Yakow Smirnov routine. Never mind. Our subject today is the Dorchester LNG tank painted by social activist and former nun Corita Kent back in 1971, when it was owned by Boston Gas. Newcomers may have been baffled the other day when the changing of the logo on the tank was a major story in the papers and on the evening news. Byebye Keyspan, hello National Grid. No big deal right? Yeah, just like messing with the Citgo sign. Around here we prefer our landmarks controversial and associated with giant fossil fuel companies. You got a problem with that?
For a lot of folks on the Southeast Expressway, the tank was their first close encounter with public art that wasn't a statue of blind justice or some general on a horse, and it occasioned much talk, including the idea that Kent had snuck a likeness of Ho Chi Minh into the blue stripe. Yup, they were different times - or were they? I mean, Ho and Osama look a lot alike, and it would only take us a couple of calls to talk radio to get a fresh rumor going...
Annnnyway, Kent died in '86. When the tank was torn down in the '90s, her design, now a fondly remembered landmark, was repainted on a second tank. And the other day the hanging of a new logo on the tank was big news, even though it doesn't affect the art. So here's some more big news: The Dorchester Arts Collaborative and Dorchester Historical Society will hold a panel discussion on Kent, her art and the history of the tank, at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27 at the Savin Hill Yacht Club. And if I'm not mistaken, the club is right there in easy sight of the tank.
Panelists include Alexandra Carrera, executive director of the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles, and Fogg Museum prints curator Susan Dackerman, plus former Boston Gas PR man Frank Arricale. The free, public event is part of Dorchester Open Studios. For more information, call 617-839-6734 or click to www.thedac.org.
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