Artist/writer Solomon Charles Levine

I grew up in the concrete jungle of Chicago. My favorite play area was the alley right behind our apartment. It was concrete ringed on all sides by tall brick buildings. I built a bicycle and raced it up and down that concrete alley. I could do anything with my hands -- especially draw.

I graduated from bikes to cars. All I drew were cars. I tore cars apart and souped them up. I took a job working on sports cars. A couple of years working under the hood in 180 degrees brought me back to my art senses.

After art school I wound up as an advertising art director. It was a good fit. I thought art should tell a story -- send a message -- not just decorate.

I was the mechanical man until I helped a fellow art director shoot his nature film. We were in a canoe in a marsh surrounded by steel mills. That context of rusting, smoke-belching steel mill surrounding this fragile body of nature had a powerful effect on me. I was right in the middle of it, rowing while my buddy focused his camera on the terns nesting in the thick foliage. We got too close to a nest and the adult terns attacked us! I held the oar up, waving it madly to keep us from being speared! Why were they angry with us? My buddy was trying to save their nesting ground with his documentary. It was the steel mill that was choking them and polluting their babies.

I put down my wrenches and started acting like I was living in the environment. I became president of an environmental group that started recycling centers in 13 Chicago suburbs. Once people got the saving and not wasting habit they couldn't shut if off. Their actions fueled the demand for curbside recycling. 3 decades later, the recycling symbol I designed still graces recycling bins in some suburbs.

Promoting the environment balanced the work I did hawking products. I took up my tools again to build a bicycle-powered TV so my kids would have to peddle to watch -- and learn energy conservation. This got me my 15 minutes of fame. I got TV interviews, and international radio interviews. I was written up in Reader's Digest and in a book on how to raise kids with television. And the plans for the bicycle generator were published in VISTA manuals for third world countries who were living without power. Then I designed and built a super-insulated passive solar house.

I also produced TV programs and animated public service announcements for an environmental television show and I now design, illustrate, and write for a website that helps get people out of their cars and work from home. It's called Telecommuting Jobs at www.tjobs.com.

I start every environmental painting or story hoping to accomplish a bit of what the birds in the marsh did for me.

© copyright 2001