Edward Shimborske, Jr.

Edward Shimborske Jr. (March 5, 1949 – July 31, 2009) had a diverse and varied career as an educator, journalist, B-movie actor and graphic-artist specializing in logo and album cover design.

Career
Best known as a visual collaborator of Sin Klub Entertainment and Cleveland International, Shimborske started designing covers in the early '90's while instructing art at Champion High School in Warren, Ohio, and covering music as a writer for the "Glass Eye" music magazine. Shimborske's work is typically loose, colorful, filled with symbolism and distinctive in style. He has designed everything from softball-team jerseys, band posters (many for the Phantasy and the Asylum), tattoos and corporate logos to massive murals, comic-books and board-games. Of note, his work was featured weekly on the set of Drew Carey's apartment on ABC's "Drew Carey Show." he was most recently commissioned to create a lobby mural for the YMCA in downtown Warren and another for the Fractured Prune doughnut franchise in Howland, Ohio. In 2009, Shimborske played a zombie in David Oakes' low-budget "The Dead Among Us."

Background and education
Shimborske was born in 1949 in Monessen, Pennsylvania (the same city that spawned former heavyweight boxing champion Michael Moorer and actress Frances McDormand), but moved to Ohio in the 1950s. Upon high-school graduation, he attended Capital University and Youngstown State University, where he earned a BA and art-education and produced a successful series of screen and block-prints (subversive takes on the American mainstream like his limited "The United States of Columbus" design). Beginning in the field of painting, he quickly branched out into other mediums like design, sculpture and jewelry=making. He bagan teaching art and coaching football and Champion High School in the 1970s, mentoring students like renowned artist Gail Gordon Trunick, director Chris Columbus, and pitcher Darrin Chapin (New York Yankees).

Personal
Shimborske has been married to high-school sweetheart Karen Morris since 1970, and the two live in Warren, Ohio. They are parents of Edward Shimborske III and Micah Shimborske, both of whom work within the music industry. Shimborske's family descends from Germany, Austria, and Poland and is linked to Nobel Prize winning relative Wislawa Szymborska (who maintains the family name's original spelling). Shimborske's wife, Karen, is a descendent of Robert Morris financier of the American Revolution and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Credits

 * Cleveland International Records, 1977-1983 compilation (cover)
 * Frankie Yankovic—Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 1 (cover)
 * Frankie Yankovic—Songs of the Polka King, Vol. 2 (cover)
 * Exposed III: Hot Doggin' the Midwest compilation (cover)
 * The Thessalonian Dope Gods - Urban Witchcraft (cover)
 * The All Freaks Ball Festival (various art and ad designs)
 * Ohio Police & Fire 1st Annual Hockey Tournament
 * Take II - Live at Big Daddy's Diner (cover)
 * Uncle Butter's Bar-B-Queue Sauce (logo)
 * YMCA - Warren, Ohio (lobby mural)
 * Take II - Getting There (cover)
 * Sin Klub Entertainment (logo)
 * The Fractured Prune (mural)
 * Good Eye Shimmy (logo)
 * Chicken Dog (band logo)
 * Evolotto - 1776 (cover)
 * Take II (logo)