Tattoo Clubs to Conventions: The Les Skuse Legacy
Before social media and the contemporary tattoo conventions that we all know and love, there were tattoo clubs. Tattoo clubs were how people shared their tattoos or just love of tattooing starting in the 1950’s. Clubs communicated through sending out newsletters to members and meet ups at pubs or a tattoo shop. The original tattoo club was the Bristol Tattoo Club (BTC) started by Les Skuse in Bristol, England. Skuse started the club in 1953, he wanted to improve the public’s perception of the tattoo scene and show that tattooing is not just for armed forces or criminals. His other motivation was to raise the standard of tattooing and encourage more professionalism through the club and the spread of information; eventually this part of his mission turned into the British Guild of Professional Tattoo Artists but in the early days the BTC did a lot of the leg work. The BTC was a club for both artists and tattoo fanatics, in a more social sense rather than the commercial convention scene that we see today. The newsletters had all sorts of segments like upcoming events, new shops in the area, and important historical information.
Left: BTC poster. Right: Skuse and BTC members holding their bat calling card
The BTC was easily recognizable by its bat logo. It’s said in the early days that members would have the bat logo tattooed somewhere on them to show their membership in the club but I couldn’t find many mentions of it or photos so that may just be a rumor… or a very well kept secret. Members would get a business card shaped membership card though, with the bat logo and their name displayed on the front. You can still join the BTC on their website, I believe you pay a small fee and they’ll mail you a membership card of your own.
The Bristol Tattoo Club quickly outgrew the pub hangouts and became the Bristol Tattoo Convention. The first meeting of its kind happened at the White Horse public house in Bristol, but soon they even outgrew that venue and scaled up to the Cornish Mount Club where the convention was held for many more years. Les formed an early friendship with a photographer, Harold Smart who fell into the role of convention photographer for the next 15 years!
The BTC had a lot of famous tattoo artist members, worldly including: Al Schiefley, Huck Spaulding, Milton Zeis, Tattoo Peter, Albert Cornelious, Jimmy Thompson, Rich Mingins, Jessie Knight, Art Cail and Ron Ackers. Some more members that you might recognize are: Sailor Jerry Collins, Tattoo Jack, Leslie Burchett, Charlie Snow, Lyle Tuttle, Doc Forbes, Doc Webb, and Bert Grimm. I’ve already written on Bert Grimm and Lyle Tuttle but many more of these names will be covered at some point as well.
Al Schiefley organized a get together for a tattoo club of his own in the US called Sandusky Tattoo Club which he put together in 1956 during a visit from Skuse and the BTC, this was the first unofficial tattoo convention in the US. These club meetings continued being held and pioneered the way for the first recognized (official) tattoo convention in the US in 1976 organized by Lyle Tuttle and Dave Yurkew in Houston, Texas.
Les Skuse ran the BTC until the end of his days in 1973. The BTC is still in the family, with his son Danny taking it over after his death. Danny kept the club going minimally, putting out publications but not going above and beyond for the cause like his father before him. More recently in 2013, current president of the club, Jimmie Skuse was invited to bring the club back to visit the US at the Philadelphia tattoo convention which was the first time the club had gone overseas since the original visit in 1956 for the Sandusky Tattoo Club meeting. With over 100 members attending the convention the BTC made headlines on CBS. Jimmie Skuse is still running the club in Bristol to this day making it the oldest tattoo club and depending if you care about ‘officialness’ the oldest tattoo convention. Jimmie is focused on restoring the club to it’s glory days and something that they’re founder, Les, would be proud of.
Tattoo conventions have taken on a life and story of their own since the BTC days. The first international convention was held in Reno, Nevada in 1977. Unfortunately I can’t find many details on this convention other than it occurred. I wasn’t able to find anything about the convention scene breaking into Canada either, after some more digging there may be a follow up article on that.
Left: Les Skuse’s shop in Bristol. Right: Les Skuse take on Traditional
During my research for this I (obviously) learned about Les Skuse, he played such an important role in our current tattoo culture by initiating the idea of clubs and conventions, eventually bringing it to America. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of him before as I’m sure many people haven’t so I want to do some background on him as well and give his story the recognition he deserves. Les was born in 1918 and started his tattooing journey in 1928 as an apprentice under Joseph Hartley. Skuse worked with Hartley until the end of World War 2; after this he joined the Royal Artillery and tattooed troops for a few years until he finally settled and opened his own shop in Bristol. Les started the BTC because in the post war climate he wanted a more professional tattoo scene that wasn’t scorned or associated with the public idea of “bad people”. He had a vision for an improved standard of British body art. At this time in the 1930s and 1940s prior to the club, most British tattooing was done in a delicate single needle style. Les discovered American Traditional around this time and completely fell in love with this new style, he was inspired to branch out of the single needle work. It’s said he was also inspired by comic book artwork and the thick lining style that we see in those as well. Many traditional artists are inspired by comics, a parallel in style that I hadn’t noticed before meeting artists and doing research in my time as receptionist. Moving on, Les was the first British tattoo artist to have his work displayed in an art gallery. He had an art exhibit in 1972 at the Camden Art Center in London. Aside from his Legacy creating the BTC his sons and grandsons also became tattooers carrying on the family name.
I had no idea how deep the roots of convention culture ran, after researching this I definitely have a new appreciation for tattoo conventions. I recently went to my first one this year and worked our booth with Chris. If you haven’t been to a convention I highly recommend, even if you don’t get tattooed seeing all the artists and styles under one roof is a truly remarkable experience. Not to mention the type of community and comradery that you feel being in a big venue with like minded people who share your passions. Definitely checkout Alberta Tattoo Shows, if it’s in your means I highly recommend the experience.
Sources:
- https://selvedgeyard.com/2009/11/03/btc-bristol-tattoo-club-the-skuse-familys-generations-of-great-ink/
- http://www.bristoltattooclub.co.uk/history.htm
- https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/02/09/ink-lovers-gather-at-tattoo-artists-convention-in-philadelphia/
- https://skinink.com.au/b-tattoo/bristol-tattoo-club-members.html
- https://www.tattooarchive.com/history/tattoo_clubs.php
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo_convention#:~:text=History,World%20Tattoo%20Conventions%20through%201982.
- https://www.vintag.es/2018/12/bristol-tattoo-club.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMETSUqSqbw
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