Grant Wood Stained Glass Artwork Now Getting Reassembled

By Dave Franzman

Glass Heritage worker Adrian English of Davenport works to remove a panel of safety glass as he and Aaron Orth (not pictured) install stained glass panels of Grant Wood's artwork at the Veterans Memorial Building on Tuesday, June 2, 2010, in Cedar Rapids. According to Mike Jager, Director of the Veterans Memorial Commission, the artwork is expected to be unveiled July 4. (Jim Slosiarek)

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Jun 2, 2010 at 1:26 PM CST

Story Updated: Jun 2, 2010 at 1:26 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS - The flood-damaged stained glass artwork created by famous artist Grant Wood is coming back to the Veterans Memorial Building now a few pieces at a time.

Glass Heritage of Davenport won a $150,000 contract to restore the window depicting soldiers of various wars and an angel. Workers at the specialized company spent months cleaning up to 9,000 individual pieces of stained glass and repairing dozens of cracks caused by the stress of flood water.

Now, workers have returned to Veterans Memorial to begin reassembling the glass panels that combine to create the artwork valued at $3-million dollars. Workers have reinstalled about 15 to 20 percent of the stained glass panels. With luck, crews should finish this part of the installation in about two weeks.

Members of the Veterans Memorial Commission still tentatively plan to unveil the 25-foot tall window on July 4th before the Celebration of Freedom finale on May’s Island.

The current plan is to show the work in completed for for the first time that afternoon and then let the public tour inside the still-damaged Veterans Memorial Building for a closer look at the Grant Wood creation. A time for that event is not yet set. Protective glass panels to help prevent any future damage are still being manufactured and won’t be installed in time for the 4th of July unveiling.

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