Yuko Shimizu

Sticky, a creative agency in Chicago and Retail Advertising & Marketing Association came up with a very creative idea to raise scholarship fund for students at Columbus College of Art and Designin Ohio.Four artists, including myself was invited to design gum packages based on the stories Sticky has created. 12 packs of gum in a carton is sold for $25, which will fund Randy Curtis Memorial Award.My image is based on a trippy story about a third nipple escaping the body, travels across the continent and go surfing. (Yes, you read it right.)
Because the story was so out there, and the package features a surfer on the wave of thousand nipples, the gum got rejected from production at the last minutes.But of course, it is the bunch of creative minds who are working on this project, they ended up managing to produce this gum, as a “banned and limited edition”.So, you can buy this gum, chew on this, all for a good cause!

See more photos of the gum here.

This afternoon I took #2 train up to Pelham Parkway in the Bronx (NY) to attend the opening reception of the new library at Public School #96. As you can see in the photo, my contribution to this project was creating a set of 11 murals. The library was donated to PS96 by non-profit organization Robin Hood Foundation, including the architecture, construction, design, furniture and computers, along with 7000 new books for the students and teachers to use for years and years to come.I am extremely excited to be a part of this project, thanks to designer Stefan Sagmeisterwho decided that elementary school murals should be illustrated and somehow picked me to collaborate with him. We worked on and off for 2 and half years.I love creating images for magazines, newspapers and on the covers of books and CDs. But I had never imagined a day would come when I could contribute to the little future hopes of New York and encourage them to learn. What a rewarding feeling.

And thank you everyone who was involved in the project to make this happen.

Please see more photos here.