World-renowned artist Wayne Thiebaud, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, has created an original work of art to be featured in a poster commemorating the 125th anniversary of the University of California. The pastel-on-paper art work, called "Celebration Cakes," and poster will be unveiled Sept. 30 in a special ceremony. Financed entirely through gifts, the poster will be sold in limited quantity, with proceeds to go toward a scholarship fund to support UC students studying art. "It is an honor to be selected to produce a work to announce the University of California's 125th anniversary," said Thiebaud, who donated the work to the Richard L. Nelson Gallery & The Fine Arts Collection at UC Davis. "I hope the nine variations of festive cakes will help us all celebrate and remember this outstanding achievement." The nine-campus system celebrates its 125th during the 1992-93 academic year. On the day of the unveiling, a retrospective exhibition of more than 25 Thiebaud posters opens at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center at UC Davis. On public display until Dec. 12 will be posters featuring Thiebaud's work from the 1960s to the present. The posters come from the collection of Gina Kelsch, associate vice chancellor for university relations at UC Davis. A highly honored California artist who has taught for more than 30 years at UC Davis, Thiebaud has been described by art critics as "one of the most accomplished and admired painters at work today" and "one of the country's most respected and popular painters." His works -- many of them striking and colorful images of food and everyday objects -- are on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Art Institute and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions. The other contributors to the poster project are Michael Osborne Design, Pixxon color separators and Master Craft Printers, all of San Francisco; and the San Francisco Bay Area division of Simpson Paper Co. Commemorative 125th anniversary posters will be available for $10 at UC campus bookstores and museum stores beginning Sept. 30. A small number of signed posters can be obtained for $125 each from the UC Davis Richard L. Nelson Gallery. (Send $125, and $4 for shipping and handling, to Price Amerson, Nelson Gallery Director, UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616. Checks should be made out to The Regents.) Those interested in attending the unveiling ceremony, 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, can receive ticket information from the campus ceremonies and events office at 757-3220. The cost is $12.50 per person.