About this project
My project is a mini mobile museum of sweeteners, which I call MMMsweet cart. The mobile cart presents information about artificial and natural sweeteners by traveling the streets of San Diego and possibly other cities in the future. Adults and kids will be invited to participate by taste testing sweeteners, playing a game, taking a quiz, inventing a sweetener, creating a new soda, etc.. The world of sweeteners is about as complex as food itself. I’m fascinated by where typical packaged food comes from and how it’s made. Food Scientists and the food industry work together to create new products for consumers and most of us get fooled by the advertising and the excitement of a new product.
I began a few years ago with designing the mobile cart to resemble an old fashion ice cream cart. I struggled for months to create characters to go with each sweetener. I was inspired by Charlie Harper’s style of illustration and I studied Pokemon characters. I painted lots of creatures with my two kids, until I finally found some that could resembled sweetener heros.
The ironic heros on the trading cards are meant to recruit followers to be concerned about what they eat? My big questions are, What are these sweeteners doing to our bodies? Which ones are better than others? How do we decide what sweeteners we should eat, if any?
The sweetener mobile cart includes a collection of natural and artificial sweeteners in jars. At every event, I will unveil a new trading card. The trading cards will be given away for free and include a donation jar to fund printing costs for future trading cards. I anticipate about 18 trading cards distributed over the first year of the project. Nine trading cards have been completed but I need funds to print the cards and pay the graphic designer to set up more trading card designs. I also need funds to purchase sweeteners for tasting events and soda invention activities. Thanks for your support.
Budget:
$520 initial printing costs of the first 9 trading cards, 1000 each.
$300 graphic designer cost to set up the front and back of the next 9 trading cards
$180 for sweetener samples, soda making supplies and photocopying for public events.
To find out more about the Sugar Museum's past projects, please visit www.sugarmuseum.org.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
18
Backers
$1,031
pledged of $1,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 29.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
A Thank you MMM Sweet postcard handwritten and sent by mail to you.
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
A set of the initial 9 sweetener trading cards and a thank you MMM Sweet postcard handwritten to you.
Pledge $20 or more Pledge $20 or more
Your name appears in the thank you section of the website, blog and facebook pages, a collection of the first 18 trading cards, and a thank you MMM Sweet postcard handwritten to you.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
A small original, handmade, soft toy version of one of the sweetener heros (of your choice), and all of the above.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
All of the above and an original framed 8 ½ x 11” painting of the trading card sweetener character of your choice. For international backers, please add $20 for shipping.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
A mini museum sweetener collection of your own, including a set of 18 sweetener samples in 1 oz. glass jars, a shelf and a set of the first 18 trading cards. Also included is an original framed 8 ½ x 11” painting of the trading card sweetener character of your choice. For international backers, please add $40 for shipping.
Project By
Has not connected their Facebook account.
Terri Hughes-Oelrich is an artist and educator living in San Diego, CA. As an Associate Professor at San Diego City College, she teaches sculpture, ceramics, 3D design and contemporary crafts. In 1998, she began making artwork about sugar and started a non-profit 501c3, The Sugar Museum, aka, The Natural History Museum of Sugar. As director of the museum, she organizes exhibitions inviting artists to create artwork at various venues about the culture of sugar. Many projects are also organized to educate kids on unhealthful aspects of sugar. Terri reveived her BA in Art Studio from UC Santa Barbara and her MFA from San Diego State University.
