August 2020 - Page 2 of 6 - ChipInHead.com

Fire UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film crown by Suzanne Forbes July 2020

There is a fluidity in the process of using materials that are themselves changeant.

I also love not knowing what I’m doing or if it is gonna work! It may seem silly, but working on these projects allows me to access flow state or what Keats called “Negative Capability“.

A poet, then, has the power to bury self-consciousness, dwell in a state of openness to all experience, and identify with the object contemplated.

Gieza Poke in crowns by Suzanne Forbes June 2020

I need to handle these materials, I want these beautiful items to exist, but I don’t need to keep them once they’re in the world!

So many of my mixed media projects this summer were donated to queer Berlin fundraiser raffles. I am adding value to the Berlin Queerconomy in every way I can!

Gieza Poke has done most of the raffles, on the live twitchstream of Gieza‘s Poke House in Quarantine. She made awesome and hilarious videos to promote them! Beautiful Keili won the wave crown, which was so perfect! Gieza wore the fire crown for the last Quarantine show.

Fire and Water UV resin and holographic vinyl crowns by Suzanne Forbes July 2020 outside

You can see the archive of the five months of quarantine shows, all of which were livestreamed, here, under the VIDEOS tab of Gieza’s twitch account,

I didn’t know Jwlyfer de Winter personally.

She was a huge part of the Bay Area goth and costuming scene, before I arrived in ’97 and after. But I only saw her and drew her at events, where she was a marvelous, elegant presence in the most incredible clothes.

When I began drawing people live at events, I went to both costume events and kink events. There were TWO costumers’ groups in the Bay then, the Greater Bay Area Costumers’ Guild and another whose name escapes me. They had passionate rivalries and strong feelings about lots of details!

Eventually my lack of proper period wardrobe and affinity for overt freakiness led me to lean much more heavily into the Bay’s alt, kink, Burner and Goth communities (which heavily overlapped!)

Plus, I love people in fancy clothes, but I had enough making sure I got the number of pips on a uniform right when I worked on Star Trek.

In the Fall of 2005, The Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild held a Lord of the Rings themed dinner at a lodge in an East Bay park.

I bought a ticket and went – that was long before I got into things for free! It was a beautiful and magical candlelit night of silk and velvet and bells.

I sat next to a couple dressed as Tom Bombadil and Goldberry.

They had brought their own wooden plates and brass mugs.

As at all these events, there was dancing.

I lived for many years among people who could waltz, Lindy Hop and do the gavotte and farandole without missing a step, in clothes they had sewn themselves.

Jwlyfer was dressed as Arwen, in an incredible costume she won awards for at costume events.

She was a Presence, a regal queen surrounded by her own aura.

The most incredible, lyrically beautiful moment of the night was when Jwlyfer sang “May it Be.”

The theme song of the LOTR movies. She was haunting, ethereal, otherworldly – you could feel the charge in the air. Everyone had goosebumps.

Jwlyfer passed in April after years of painful chronic illness, but her legend will remain forever in California’s alt communities, and here in Berlin.

Her Youtube Gothic Bohemian Salon is still up, and you can visit her Pinterest boards to enjoy her exquisite taste. Her website is still up, for now – on 50megs! I hope someone in the community who knew her personally will be able to ensure her online presence remains.

These drawings had been scanned, but never posted; no online record of them existed – if we had a fire or flood they would just be gone forever.

ChipInHead.com

Suzanne Forbes, a New Yorker thriving in Berlin. Crowdfunded documentary art made possible by the generous support of her Patrons. https://www.patreon.com/SuzanneForbes.

Monthly Archives: August 2020

Fire and Water Crowns: A Sacred Heart and Waves of Love for Queer Berlin

I made these two crowns during June and July, which feels like a century ago.

The wave crown is made of holographic vinyl, cut into waves and shaped.

Then I added loops of wired beads and lots of opalescent crystals.

There is a fluidity in the process of using materials that are themselves changeant.

I need to handle these materials, I want these beautiful items to exist, but I don’t need to keep them once they’re in the world!

I am so grateful to my Patreon Patrons‘ support of my mixed media artwork, the place I feel safest with evolving and experimenting. It’s what I do instead of vacation 🙂 !

Archives post: GBACG and rest in peace, Jwlyfer.