Tag Archives: Berlin life drawing community

An evening with the BSC and the ELSC! Life drawing with strippers!

Sasha Diamond for East London Strippers Collective by Suzanne Forbes August 24 2020I was so excited about the first IRL/streaming hybrid session of the Berlin Strippers’ Collective life drawing!

The model was Akynos, an incredible Berlin talent who I love to draw. And then, The East London Strippers’ Collective Life Drawing group announced that Sasha Diamond was their model, for the same night!

And I have been wanting to draw Sasha, an amazing teacher and performer, for ages! That’s Sasha above, in rainbow wig and outfit. She has the best moves! Life drawing with strippers is wonderful because pole dancers are incredible, graceful athletes.

Akynos for Berlin Strippers Collective x Sketcherei 2 by Suzanne Forbes August 24 2020Luckily, the time difference meant I could almost be in two places at once.

I “went” to the Berlin Strippers’ Collective/Sketcherei session first, arriving virtually via Zoom to see artists gathering in the really cool new venue. Even virtually, it was wonderful to see Alexandra and Chiqui!

Akynos for Berlin Strippers Collective x Sketcherei 1 by Suzanne Forbes August 24 2020Akynos danced in a halterneck jumpsuit and I made a series of loose sketches.

It was wonderful to be able to draw dancing in an actual club again!

Akynos for Berlin Strippers Collective x Sketcherei 3 by Suzanne Forbes August 24 2020The music was excellent too.

Thanks so much to Akynos, The Berlin Strippers Collective, Sasha Diamond Pole (she has a website coming soon here) and the East London Strippers Collective!

Here is how you can follow and support Akynos: her Instagram, performer website, Patreon, Youtube and SW mutual aid organization.

And as always,

I am so grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support lets me keep documenting international performers while I work safely at home.

Women tattooing women at the Drink And Draw Berlin Tattoo Jam – on a boat!!

Lydia tattooing at Drink & Draw Berlin Tattoo Jam April 12 2019 by Suzanne ForbesWhat a lovely time we had!

This is Lydia, aka Lylicious Ink, tattooing a lovely lady, ON A BOAT. Lydia is a friend who is a fantastic artist who is now a tattoo artist, like Daria.

I went to the new Drink And Draw Berlin location finally, and holy heck it’s amazing. Drink And Draw’s classes and events are now held in a 90-year-old boat docked in the Historic Harbor by Markisches Museum. The atmosphere is so cozy, so charming, so superbly comfortable for drawing, I cannot even deal. I want to go back ASAP.

Here’s the Drink and Draw Berlin Insta, featuring ME!

Daria tattooing at Drink & Draw Berlin Tattoo Jam April 12 2019 by Suzanne ForbesDaria was tattooing in a mask, looking even more like an artist ninja than usual!

The woman Daria is tattooing is Fania Katz, an “illustrator and creator of weirdness from Berlin“. Fania is a native Berliner, and with Daria, a native Muscovite, and me, a Native New Yorker, sitting there, Daria said we had a mighty trinity.At Drink & Draw Berlin Tattoo Jam April 12 2019 by Suzanne Forbes

These two cool as hell friends of Lydia’s were talking about tat appointments, and one of them was also drawing.

I just was so happy there! There were groups of artists and tattooists working at tables and on couches throughout the boat’s comfy seating areas, and another woman tattoo artist, the fantastically badass Strix, working up on the stage, and people doing stick-and-poke.

Elliott doing stick and poke tattoo at Drink and Draw Berlin Tattoo Jam April 20 2019Suzanne ForbesThis is Elliott, stick-and-poke tattooing his own leg.

I knew people stick-and-poke tattooed themselves, as my incredible artist sister-in-law Caitlin has a number of beautiful works she has designed and done herself. But I’d never seen it happening live in front of me before! I was like, look, a hot boy stick-and-poking his own leg on a boat! What could possible be more Berlin? But then I remembered my friend Suz told me about a nonbinary person who stick-and-poke tattoos drunk club-goers on the party train U8 on Friday nights around 3am, and that is actually more Berlin 🙂

I had some lovely Fritz-Kola on the boat (local soft drink company well known for always sponsoring art events!) and altogether the nicest time.

Thanks, Drink and Draw Berlin! I’ll be back!

And always, my deepest and profoundest gratitude to my Patrons, who crowdfund my documentary art project of a feminist intersectional lens on Berlin life! You can help, with any amount you like per month, a dollar or euro is great ?

My Patrons on Patreon give monthly financial support which allows me to make this free documentary art available for all to share!