The Best in Contemporary Quilts

METAMORPHOSIS
Michael James
1983

Commercial cottons
Machine pieced and quilted
84 x 84 inches, approx. 115 inches (more than 9 1/2 feet) from top to bottom point

METAMORPHOSIS is 84 inches square and measures 115 inches between its top and bottom tips. It is mounted to hang diagonally on a special A-shaped frame. The composition is a complex combination of curved and straight seams, all rendered with Michael's trademark precision and acute sense of color.

METAMORPHOSIS was originally commissioned for the headquarters of a major US corporation. After many years on exhibit, it was in need of some repair and has just been restored by Michael's studio assistant, Leah Sorensen-Hayes, who worked under his close supervision. She repaired a few small tears and replaced some degraded fabric, in many cases using matching pieces of the original fabric that Michael still had in his studio stash. (Full documentation of the work done on the quilt is available.)

The quilt is now effectively new and looks as fresh and crisp as it did when it first left Michael's studio nearly thirty years ago.

Michael' s early quilts are tightly held in public and private collections and very rarely come into the marketplace.This is a major early work by Michael and a truly rare opportunity for any serious collector of contemporary quilts.

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Toward Barred Island by Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade (detail)
Toward Barred Island by Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade (detail)