By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Dance of Creation's creator, Tuck Langland, took a blowtorch to her Monday.
First Silly String stained her neck, and now there's steam boiling off her bronze skin in the Novemberish chill.
It's Dance's first facial since she began standing in Farr Park more than eight years ago in May 1995.
Not to worry. She'll soon be green as new.
After softening up the patina with flame, Langland, a sculptor from Granger, Ind., who also created Resting Dancer by City Hall, used a paint brush to dab on pigments suspended in water.
Applying heat "makes the water evaporate rapidly," so color adheres better. "Otherwise, it would just sit there," Langland said.
Dance should be waxed twice a year, and will be now that Langland has coached Dogwood Fine Arts Festival Visual Arts Committee members last summer in the rudiments of public sculpture maintenance.
John Vylonis erected scaffolding around Dance, saving Langland considerable time and effort.
Langland compared her green hue favorably to another gal who's spent a lot of time on her feet -- the Statue of Liberty.