After nearly 45 years, the art curtain that serves Stephen’s Auditorium is now getting the restoration and care that it needs.

Currently, the curtain is the largest and heaviest piece of art on campus and represents the agriculture and engineering aspects of Iowa State.

The maintenance and cleaning of the curtain is mainly done by Kate Greder, program coordinator for University Museums, along with Amy Lowery, senior in anthropology, and Claire Kruesel, graduate in English.

When Stephens Auditorium was first opened in 1969, the curtain made its first appearance to the public of Ames as well.

Greder said the curtain is tremendously important for a few reasons. When the auditorium opened, the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony came and played for five nights.

“The opening of CY Stephens Auditorium acknowledged to the people coming in and out of Ames that this building has much to offer and that it holds traditions and heritage that makes Iowa State original,” Greder said.

Jasper William Fisher and his family, the original donors for the curtain, had an idea in mind of what they wanted the curtain to represent: engineering and agriculture of Iowa State.

The curtain was made in Kyoto, Japan, a four-month process. The project took seven people working continuously and cost $20,000.

Weighing 2,800 pounds and measuring 80 feet by 35 feet, the curtain was carefully placed in a 40-foot wooden crate that ended up weighing 5,600 pounds total. The curtain journeyed east through the Panama Canal and up the United States’ eastern sea boarder into the Saint Lawrence Seaway down to Chicago. Finally, the curtain was unloaded and placed in a tractor-trailer to its final destination — Ames.

Since the curtain is in need of rennovation, Greder and Lowery have spent a large amount of their time cleaning and restoring the piece of artwork back to its natural look. They use different cleaning tools such as vacuums, paintbrushes and rags to restore it.

Both said the curtain was covered in dust. Before the duo started working on the curtain, the bright yellow fringes were a murky brown.

“It’s getting shiner and shiner as we keep going,” Greder said.

Lowery pointed out that the recognition of the curtain has declined in a way. She said the people who were in Ames for the opening of the auditorium remember the first glance of the curtain.

“Students in our generation have seen it during choir concerts and band concerts and that’s it. A few of my friends didn’t know that it existed,” Lowery said.

Lowery and Greder said the art curtain, in its own abstract way, represents the heritage for which Iowa State is known. Each section preserves a unique meaning that everyone interprets differently.