Thursday Night Fever

Rock n’ Roll Quilt

This is a concept quilt inspired by the news that a dance club called Thursday’s Lounge in Akron, OH was closing. We would often go there to meet friends while visiting my husband's family, and it played all the best dark 80's, britpop, punk and indie music from the last 40 yrs. Dancing there made it easy to forget that I was a grown up for a few minutes. It was such a fun place!

At this same time in 2020, I was losing my mom to cancer and I was in such a bad mental place. I was looking for a challenging 100-day project to keep me busy. The appeal of this project was that I didn’t have to worry about the subject or composition, and I could just focus on various techniques I studied over the years.

These two events seemed weirdly related to me - they both gave me the feeling that my childhood was about to be out of reach.

While doing this project, I listened to every album I could remember having as a kid. I would use the music to try and trigger memories of a time where my mom and I shared the same space. I would talk to her about people and places and things we hadn't thought of in years. She was going through her old music too, and sending me songs and telling me stories. This project provided inspiration for light hearted conversations between us, at a time when everything was pretty dark. She looked forward to seeing the daily blocks. 

100” x 100” (254cm x 254cm)