The rainbow gas tank on Dorchester’s Commercial Point is getting a fresh coat of paint this fall by union workers from the John W. Egan Company, who are touching up the fading colors of the iconic design created more than 50 years ago by Corita Kent, a Catholic nun turned pop artist who died in 1986. Her whimsical rainbow swash remains the largest copy-written piece of art in the world.

“To me it represents hope, uplifting, and spring,” the late artist herself said of her creation. “It’s a joyous expression, joining heaven and earth together.”

Last month, the Reporter’s Bill Forry and Seth Daniel were invited to get a closer look at the project by climbing the exterior stairs that lead to a catwalk at the top of the 146-foot-tall tank, which is owned and operated by National Grid. It is from this perch that painters carefully lower themselves over the edge to hand-roll fresh colors onto the sides.

A panoramic view from the National Grid tank looking over Squantum Channel and Port Norfolk with the rest of the neighborhood in the background.

Shown atop the tank on Sept. 21: National Grid’s Joseph Carroll, the company’s director of community and customer management. He is shown with Joshua Cardoso, National Grid’s LNG Regional Director, and Chris Cirelli, senior supervisor of the Commercial Point facility. Seth Daniel photo

The tank was last re-painted in 2014, but exposure to the elements and proximity to Dorchester Bay can cause the bright red, orange, blue, green, purple and yellow colors to fade quickly. The painting crew typically works four days a week— building in days off for inclement weather conditions. The workers use swing staging— equipment employed most often by window-washers—anchored to the top of the tank. The painters also have a separate safety line attached to the top of the tank and strapped to their bodies.

Still, it can be a harrowing experience just getting up and down using the fire-escape-like stairs, which wind along the side of the tank at a fairly steep grade. National Grid recently installed a new, more user-friendly railing along the stairway to help with the descent in particular.

The view from the top — as seen in this photo essay— is spectacular, revealing panoramic angles of the neighborhood and city skyline.

Kent’s artwork was originally painted on the side of a second large LNG tank that stood at the site in 1971. When that tank was dismantled in 1992, the Boston Gas Company had the design transferred onto the current tank, which now also includes the National Grid logo, along with the artist’s distinctive “Corita” signature.

Dorchester Reporter News Editor Seth Daniel reaches the top of the tank after climbing up the spiraling stairway to the top. Bill Forry photo

Preserving the world’s largest copywritten piece of art is a priority. But so is keeping the tank itself— built in 1971— in “pristine condition,” says Joshua Cardoso, National Grid’s Regional Director for LNG facilities.

“We take a lot of pride in the facility,” says Cardoso, who notes that the tank itself serves as a “peak shaver” for the metro Boston energy grid.

“The gas system was designed for over one hundred years ago, with a lot less people in the area. These peak shavers make up the difference that the gas system can’t provide. So, in the winter months from November to March, we vaporize gas, we take the liquid in the tank, we warm it up, and we put in the distribution system to offset that peak demand.

“So, it’s important. Not that just this facility, but the others located within our territory; we make that difference. If we weren’t there, gas pilots would go out. So that’s why these facilities are very key,” Cardoso said.

The job is a high-profile one for the painters’ union, said John Doherty, a Dorchester native who is an organizer for Painters DC35, which helps in training and certifying signatory contractors like the Egan Company.

A view of Morrissey Boulevard with Savin Hill Beach and Yacht Club in the background. Seth Daniel photo