For Womxn’s History Month 2021, I collaborated with Scholastic Bookfairs to help promote their favorite books that highlight trailblazers and game-changing womxn from our past and present. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Some legends included (and shown in my illustration) Supreme Court Justice - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Physicist - Chien-Shiung Wu, Human Rights Activist - Malala Yousafzai, Poet and Civil Rights Activist - Maya Angelou, and Artist and Feminist - Frida Kahlo ⠀⠀
This was a box design and box curation collaboration with the women at Gratitude Collaborative.
It’s my pleasure to say that 100% of the proceeds from this box were split equally between @blackgirlssmile and @asianmentalhealthcollective
I was thrilled that I to able to curate a box that is filled with brands and makers from the AAPI community
Most Photos by: @tracythnguyen
In each box:
Carolyn Suzuki - Notebook
Carolyn Suzuki - Set of greeting cards for every occasion
Brightland - Olive oil
Camp - Dyed socks
Valerie - Blushing berry chocolate Bar
KnotWork LA - jewelry dish
Esselle- candle
Gratitude Collaborative Solid Pine Keepsake Box or Carolyn Suzuki Designed Box
This was an exciting collaboration with @Apple on a mural celebrating the opening of Apple Tower Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles.
Apple asked me to choose a portrait subject who contributes to our diverse design community in LA.
I knew instantly that I wanted to draw @luciatran as my portrait subject.
Lucia is an incredibly talented producer, designer and thinker. Her work is so impressive to me but what’s more inspiring to me is her endless well of support and love for her community. In the short few years that I have known Lucia I have watched her go above and beyond to help her neighbors in need, organize big donation drives to the Mexican border to help immigrant families, produce a beautiful PSA for our AAPI community and consistently helping to amplify voices for the less heard.
An animated peach to encourage voter engagement in the 2021 Georgia Runoff election - which will decide the fate of the of the US Senate
I wrote and illustrated a book about BOOBS!.
It’s about celebrating ourselves and taking agency over our own bodies by learning, engaging in creative activities and accessing our empathy. A few samples pages from the book follows.
Published by Hardie Grant - Quadrille and comes out in September 2020.
Recent illustrations
Artwork I contributed to SHE VOTES from CHRONICLE BOOKS, written by @bquinnterest and coming out in August! This special book tells the intersectional story of how US women won suffrage, and what happened next. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This was a collaboration with Apartment Therapy.
My artwork is used as a header on their Diversity and Equity Inclusion page in an effort for Apartment Therapy Media to state their commitment to more diversity and equity and belonging at AT media. 🌈 🏳️🌈 💜
I had the pleasure of helping Italian brand Lazzari create a collection based on some favorite films and whimsical winter themes. The 1960’s Hayley MIlls film That Darn Cat, the early 90’s film Mermaids with Cher and Winona Ryder, chilly weather Dinos and Doggies were all sources of inspiration!
I had the privilege of participating in Time Square Arts - Vote For your Future project for the 2020 Presidential Election.
Photo credit : Ian Douglas
In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, artists, activists, and cultural organizations have been increasingly critical forces in building a movement around voter participation and civic engagement. Times Square Arts is proud to join forces with Amplifier Art to present the work of 9 emerging artists encouraging voter turnout and direct action amidst one of the most important political moments of our time. This series of engaging, inclusive, and urgent messages, featuring text in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, will be papered throughout the public spaces of the district.
Even throughout the pandemic, Times Square has remained a frequent site of protest, marches, vigils, and meditations. By activating our public spaces in the name of civic engagement, Vote Your Future continues the district’s long history as a platform for free and creative expression — and a place to amplify your message to not just New Yorkers, but to the country, and in turn, the world.
Each of the artworks will include a special QR code linking to Vote.org, where voters from across all 50 states can access information about polling locations, create a voting plan, reference their voting rights and find out about how to get involved in the electoral process.
In addition to being displayed across the plazas of Times Square - primarily on the district’s Big Bellies — works from the Vote Your Future campaign will be featured on digital displays throughout the city in public health clinics, food pantries, community centers thanks to media non-profit F.Y.Eye.
For audiences beyond Times Square and New York City who are interested in bringing this campaign to their own communities, each of the artworks can be downloaded for free at Amplifier.org along with works across all of the social justice campaigns that Amplifier Art has rallied over the past several months.
In collaboration with Larke designs, I created patterns for dresses exclusive at Anthropologie
I'm proud to share this collaboration with Asian American Girl Club
As a Japanese American, I value the vital contribution and sacrifice Black Americans have given to our country from day one. It is unjust that Black communities continue to be marginalized while so many of us benefit from the foundations that they have laid before us. I hope that this image of Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American who actively supported Black lives decades ago, alongside Malcolm X, who always had the best interest of Black Americans at heart, will be a reminder that allyship is the key to the truly equal America we want to see.
100% of the proceeds of these T-shirts went to Black Girls Code and The Loveland Foundation
Get out the vote!
Stickers for Workman Publishing
It’s a sticker book with a mission: proclaim the pride of voting and motivate friends and family to cast their ballots and make their voices heard. Colorful, bold, and inspiring, the 450 stickers in Be a Voter! celebrate democracy, equality, the precious right to vote, and with it, the true power of the people.
This is the second book in a trilogy of alphabet books I illustrated for Penguin Randomhouse UK. The first being F is for Feminism and the third book, A is for Avocado.
In M is for Mindfulness, Introduce young children to mindfulness by encouraging children to pay attention to their breathing, to think of their emotions as something that will pass, and being aware of the present moment.
I was approached by Adore Me to design a collection of panties to benefit Girls Inc., an organization that advocates on behalf of girls and delivers life-changing programs & experiences.
I stand by the Congresswomen of the United States who have been elected for the people, by the people.
I had the privilege of collaborating with Kira Kids on this series of Congress Women Tees and Sweatshirts. 100% OF PROCEEDS benefits the extraordinary nonpartisan non-profit She Should Run, which promotes leadership and encourages women from all walks of life to run for office.
When women run for office, they win at the same rates as men. Yet women aren't encouraged and recruited at the same rates as men. She Should Run has created an incubator of women leaders in the US, guided with online courses that support women beginning their journey in public service. More than 26,000 women have been inspired to consider a run for office through their program and their vision is to see 250,000 women running for office by 2030. Let's work together to normalize women's leadership and encourage a new generation of young women to lead!
When all women vote... we see change!
I collaborated with Social Goods and designed this T-Shirt where 100% benefits When We All Vote and the United State of Women.
When We All Vote is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization on a mission to close all gaps—including the race and age gap—in voter participation.
The United State of Women is a national organization dedicated to convening, connecting, and amplifying voices in the fight for full gender equity.
In partnership, they have launched the Gender Equity Voting Collaborative to ensure that women everywhere have the ability to register to vote and participate in every election.
On Friday September 20, the Natural Resources Defense Council followed the lead of young climate leaders like @GretaThunberg and others striking for #climateaction! The NRDC asked me to design a digital sticker pack for GIPHY in efforts to promote this important cause. Around the world, climate activists took to the streets, calling on governments to tackle the crisis with the urgency it deserves—because future generations depend on it. Just days before the U.N. Climate Summit in New York, the strike kicked off a week of action.
This is the final book in the Alphabet book trilogy I illustrated for Penguin Randomhouse UK.
This book introduces young readers to twenty-six fresh fruits, vibrant vegetables and powerful plants, from avocado to zucchini.
I had the privilege of illustrating for “F is for Feminism” by LadybirdBooks - a new children’s imprint from Penguin Random House UK - Children by nature are compassionate, loving creatures, I hope that this book can inspire and empower boys and girls to stand up for what they believe. I hope that this book can remind them that Feminism is for all of us, it’s about supporting one another and advocating for each other.
Women Who Draw connected me with Planned Parenthood who wanted enamel pins designed to support women’s right to birth control.
From the PP Site:
Women Who Draw is an open directory of female* illustrators. Women Who Draw is trans-inclusive and includes women, trans and gender non-conforming illustrators. Artwork is by Carolyn Suzuki / womenwhodraw.com.
I had the privilege of teaching a workshop at the Refinery 29 - 29Rooms Event in LA, December 2018.
I lead multiple workshops over the course of six days for attendees interested in engaging in their creativity by accessing their empathy. Here is a class description.
ACCESS EMPATHY
We often think of empathy as an end result; a position or emotional state we are trying to reach in the hopes of understanding others. But what happens when empathy becomes a means. Illustrator Carolyn Suzuki asks us to reconsider empathy as a function of our own imagination, using our ability to consider and embody the feelings of others as a way to unlock the artist within. In this class, your curiosity will fuel creation and creation will lead to connection.
TOP 2 PHOTOS: Emma McIntyre
It feels good to have been a part of an initiative that brings light to the prevalence of women who are trapped in domestic abuse and cannot leave due to financial dependence on a partner. The All State Purple Purse Foundation helps to support women gain the knowledge and financial confidence they need so they can support themselves and gain independence. WATCH THE TIMELAPSE!
2020 WALL CALENDAR FOR WORKMAN PUBLISHING
A call to action, and a celebration of women's voices, in calendar form!
Feminist empowerment is at the forefront of our national conversation—and it’s about time. The Future Is Female will elevate any activist’s wall. Each month features an empowering quote from a feminist icon, paired with a bold illustration. The calendar celebrates the different voices and faces of womanhood including Audre Lorde (“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”) and Anaïs Nin (“One has to create a world in which one can live.”). Includes 12 postcards and a colorful poster. A portion of the calendar's proceeds go to Girls Write Now.
Editorial illustrations for Refinery 29 - an article by Judy Kim about an American living like a French Girl for a month and what she discovers about herself in the process . Art Director Isabel Guijarro
Personal Work
DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, MIXED MEDIA.
Illustration and animation for The Washington Post’s - The Lily.
The article is a part of a series that dissects the role religion plays in the lives of millennial women.
Illustration of Lynn Yaeger for House That Lars Built - Book Club.
Based on Simon Doonan's "Ecclectic Glamour"
VARIOUS WORK REPRESENTING OUR GREAT NATION
Illustrated and lettered the cover for Almost Adulting - Arden Rose
Art Director: Alison Klapthor
Illustrations for Be More Unicorn, by Joanna Gray.
Published by Quadrille Press UK/ Chronicle Books US
Pattern and Graphics of Artists Throughout History - Basquiat, Warhol, Kahlo, Bourgeois etc. for San Francisco based apparel company Kira Kids
Illustrated the June month opener for 2018 ban.do agenda!
Designed two collections for party supply company Day Dream Society. Designs include, paper plates with foil stamped embellishments, cups, napkins, temporary tattoos & rubber stamps.
COLLABORATION WITH PAPIER UK
LINED JOURNALS
Swan pattern in collaboration with Kaleido Concepts.
Convertible Travel Ware Collection
New cards for the Carolyn Suzuki Goods product line
Illustration for the design and concept firm AVROKO
It was for their launch of the beautifully crafted members club MORTIMER HOUSE in London's Fiztrovia.
FOR COTTON ON AUSTRALIA KIDS
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PACKAGING
Various work representing the women of our great nation.
First image - drawings of some of my favorite protest signs from the Women's Marches all over the world (January 2017)
Need a pattern for your next project?
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BAGGAGE
