Lake County artists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 globe will be part of environmental display in Chicago<\/p>\n
By Madhu Krishnamurthy
\nFrom afar, it looks like a black-and-white-checkered NASCAR flag printed on a giant globe.
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\nStep closer, and the pattern reveals a miniature Earth covered in more than 2,200 Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars in place of the oceans. The continents are fashioned out of recycled aluminum.<\/p>\n
The piece, created by artists Mitch Levin of Kildeer and Baris Taser of Vernon Hills, is one of more than 120 environmentally themed globes that will be displayed this summer at prominent Chicago locations, such as the lakefront near the Field Museum, at Navy Pier and possibly along Michigan Avenue.<\/p>\n
These works by Chicago and suburban artists are part of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d public art project, a brainchild of Highland Park environmental activist Wendy Abrams.<\/p>\n
The project aims to use art to increase public awareness about global warming, and promote solutions.<\/p>\n
Levin and Taser jokingly call their work, dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Race to Save the Planet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the largest traffic jam in the world.<\/p>\n
Most of the miniature cars in the piece were collected or donated by area children, schools, libraries, friends and family. The rest were bought online on eBay and at area auctions and secondhand stores.<\/p>\n
It took the duo a week to painstakingly glue the cars on the roughly 300-pound fiberglass globe provided to participating artists by Cool Globes. The entire piece took hundreds of hours of labor and was finished at 2 a.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We can sleep now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Taser, a custom furniture designer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel real good about it. We put a lot of time in it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The piece focuses on recycling because both artists are passionate about leaving a cleaner world for their children. The materials used in its production are environmentally friendly, they said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I use a lot of recycled elements when I can,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Levin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we are just muddying up the world with all the garbage we produce.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The 150 hand-cut pieces of aluminum that form the land masses on the globe are polished and etched with facts about recycling. They were donated by scrap metal warehouses.<\/p>\n
The engraving on the North American continent quotes a statistic bandied about by environmentalists everywhere: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The United States is the No. 1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person, per year. This means that 5 percent of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people, the U.S., generate 40 percent of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s waste.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Taser said it sends a powerful message.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hopefully, people will interact with this piece and have a better understanding of what they should be doing as an individual,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
The artists realize most people, especially children, may be tempted to grab the cars.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We want it to be touched,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Levin, who previously created artwork only for private collections, never for public display. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is hard to let go. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re giving it to the public now. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so many more people who are going to see it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The globe, which is 5 feet in diameter and in its finished state weighs roughly 700 pounds, was loaded onto a truck Tuesday morning headed for a Chicago warehouse. The artwork will be stored there until a public unveiling in June. The globes will be exhibited in Chicago through September.<\/p>\n
After the exhibit, the globes will be auctioned off, and proceeds will fund research and education on global warming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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