Steven Bach was born in 1943 on the outskirts of Chicago, Ill. Living in the country next to large farms before the suburbs crept out of the city, allowed for communion with nature and life in general. A navy air training base was close by and its almost weekly columns of smoke were a reminder that death was never far away. Moving to East Tennessee at the age of 11 was a large cultural shock and a big step up in communion with nature. Compared to Illinois, this was a jungle in more ways than one. As a teenager in a tourist town Steven gravitated toward the company of the interesting artists of the community, and eventually became an artist himself. His work, mostly in sculpture, has traversed many media through the years, now including writing.