In April 2011, I was contacted by the former Chairman of the corporation that had commissioned Metamorphosis, and his wife, both now retired and settled in the Southwest. They'd taken possession of the work after many years during which it circulated to various cineplex theaters that the company owned, after it was removed from the Norwalk, CT building for which it was created. It found its way to one theater in Durango, Colorado, hung in a concession area there, and it bore evidence of its proximity to popcorn-eating, soft-drink slurping movie-goers. Interested in selling it to a new owner, the couple were keen to know if the work could be cleaned or otherwise restored to something close to its original condition, ahead of it going onto the secondary market.

Metamorphosis in my Lincoln, NE studio in May 2011, before the start of work on its restoration.

Metamorphosis arrived at my Lincoln, NE studio in May 2011. My very gifted and much appreciated studio assistant at the time, Leah Sorensen-Hayes, and I launched into an up-close assessment of the quilt’s condition. As Leah later documented in a detailed condition report, this examination “revealed six tears that would require darning, two of which were along seams and one that had punctured all the way through to the back of the quilt...The most significant damage had been sustained by a green fabric that had been pieced into four areas of the quilt and had deteriorated to such an extent that the batting was exposed. It would require replacement, as would a blue piece and a rust, where the tears were too big or ragged to make darning a good option.” In addition, a number of spots and stains were clearly visible, and as Leah wrote, “...a total of 27 different areas that would require stain removal.”

Above, the diagrammatic “mapping” of Metamorphosis that Leah Sorensen-Hayes carried out in preparation for the quilt’s restoration.

We discussed options. The quilt was too large and a few of the damaged areas too fragile to allow for washing the entire object. Some areas might be spot-cleaned, but generally we agreed that the best option would be to match damaged areas as closely as possible with new fabrics, and appliqué precisely-cut shapes over them. I was neither interested in doing any of this work nor did I have the time to do it. Leah agreed to take on the project after working out terms with the quilt’s owners, and would do the work on her own time, beyond the twenty weekly hours that she worked in my studio. Since she's as much a perfectionist as I am, I had full confidence that Leah would carry out the restoration expertly and completely. Over the course of that summer that’s exactly what she did.

Above and below, damaged areas of the quilt with their “replacement” pieces ready to be appliquéd in place.

Above left, Metamorphosis photographed by David Caras in 1983, and above right and below, by Larry Gawel in 2011, after its restoration. It's to Leah's enormous credit and her skills with the appliqué needle that the dozens of "fixes" she made are imperceptible. Likewise, the choices of fabric colors, values and tones that she made for the repairs enhanced the integrity of the quilt as it was at the moment, thirty years into its life.

The final challenge involved finding a new home for the piece. We pointed the owners in the direction of the late Robert Shaw, writer, curator and, at the time, secondary market dealer in non-traditional quilts. Bob had already placed some of my older work both with private collectors and with institutional collections, and I knew he had the expertise and sufficient knowledge of the studio craft marketplace to be able to place it. Several months of negotiations culminated in its acquisition by the Baltimore Museum of Art, as fine a landing place for his work as any artist might hope for.

Not long after the museum acquired Metamorphosis, I was visiting my son and his family in nearby Frederick, MD. Knowing that the quilt was on display at the time in a show of new acquisitions, we decided to head there to see it. It happened to be the final day of that show, and having spent part of that Sunday in DC, my daughter-in-law and I opted to take Amtrak into Baltimore, mainly to give my granddaughters the experience of their first train ride. My son, who'd had a photography shoot elsewhere that day, would meet us later at the museum in Baltimore and we'd depart together at the end of the afternoon.

It seemed like a good plan, until, ten minutes or so out of Washington's Union Station, our train came to a full stop. We were on a somewhat tight schedule, so sitting in an idling Amtrak car on the outskirts of the nation's capital became concerning after a quarter hour. We'd soon learn that an adjacent motorway accident and resulting fuel spill would have the track closed for several hours. The train reversed direction and we slid back into Union Station. I didn't get to see Metamorphosis in that new acquisitions show, and only recently did I finally get to visit BAM for the first time. On that weekend visit, despite being well known for its collection of historic Baltimore album quilts, not a single quilt of any type was on display in the museum. Maybe someday...