BSDS DRINK AND DRAW

The Bay State Design Shop, or BSDS, is an inclusive community of designers, illustrators, and creatives, young and old, in the New England area, namely in and around Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2017 by designers Ryan Arruda and Erik Weikert, the folks of BSDS have hosted field trips, talks and workshops with legendary designers like Aaron Draplin, and community poster shows, with a Slack channel serving as “an inclusive gathering spot for all stripes of designers.”

After the pandemic struck in early 2020, focus shifted to hosting virtual events, initially with movie nights. In January 2021, I posed a simple question to the community:

“ANYONE INTERESTED IN A DRINK AND DRAW?”

The response was an overwhelming “hell yeah, dude,” and after pitching the event to BSDS admins, the BSDS Drink and Draws kicked off monthly in February 2021 virtually on Discord, before shifting to being outdoor / in-person in July (as the temperatures went up and the Covid numbers went down). After taking a brief hiatus February 2022, season 2 of the series returned in June that same year. 

See the full case study and everyone's artwork for this project on my site at https://chrismaher.xyz/work/bay-state-design-shop/. Seriously incredible work, y'all.