Solar spectrum artist Peter Erskine has shown his work around the world, from California to Italy and Germany; now his latest installation has found its home in the Lebanon Public Library.
Erskine has been an artist for decades; with a bachelor’s in political science from Yale and a bachelor and master of fine arts in sculpture from University of Pennsylvania, he began working with wood and fiberglass sculptures before moving into light-based installations.
He was first inspired to create rainbow art back in the 1980s, when he saw a rainbow installation in San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum. When he dug deeper into the process, even contacting a physicist, he found it far more complex than he’d initially assumed.
“A lot more science goes into it than you would think,” Erskine said.
The prismatic solar spectrum art explores not only the rainbow, but also environmental issues like mass extinctions of species, global warming, and ozone depletion.
The installation for Lebanon–the seventh in the 100 Libraries project–features two separate pieces, one in the lobby and one near the rear of the building; the rainbows will shift throughout the day–and year–as the sun moves across the sky.
Erskine pointed out that the piece at the rear will also shine into the children’s area at certain times of the day, acting as a sort of projection on the glass panels separating the different sections of the space.
Erskine’s assistant, recent high school grad Andrew Rauch, explained that each of the installations requires extensive planning and modeling to replicate the lighting and maximize the potential for creating rainbows.
Rauch said they calculate the measurements, then create scale models that let them simulate the way sunlight will look on bookshelves and other interior details. They even go as far as making miniature books for the bookshelves to make sure the light–and prisms–are optimized.
“There’s a big process that goes into making this,” Rauch said. “It’s not just pasting something on the window. There’s lots of calculation, weeks, and even months for some of the libraries, go into designing the actual art that we put onto the windows.”
Singer-songwriter Johanna Beekman, who is managing the 100 Libraries project, met Erskine 20-something years ago in Los Angeles and was the person who originally introduced him to Corvallis. She said they’re hoping for the best regarding Erskine being able to finish all 100 installations as he’s currently battling stage-four cancer and has treatments lined up.
“I honestly have had to slow him down because he’s so excited to be doing art again,” Beekman said. “…[there’s] a very real possibility that he might not make it through.”
Despite his illness and a car accident that Erskine said could have “killed him,” he persists with his work. Erskine said spiritual guides “came to” him, telling him he needed to start making art again; thus the 100 Libraries project was born. The project has started in the more rural areas of the state, avoiding bigger cities in favor of small towns like Corvallis, Amity and, of course, Lebanon.
“I got [a] great map from this state librarian and started just driving around to all the nearby libraries,” Erskine recalled. “I saw [Lebanon’s library] in January, driving by…This is a really beautiful building and [it’s perfect] for what I’m trying to do.”
An added benefit to the libraries selected by Erskine and his small team: the installations are free. Thanks to Erskine’s other paid work, he’s been able to self-fund this project, and now they have around 20 libraries in line for prism art.
Rauch said he met the artist when he was around 12 years old. Having lost his father when he was only two, Rauch hit it off with Erskine and found a mentor in him. When Erskine started the 100 Libraries project, it made sense to bring Rauch on as his assistant.
“I’ve really been enjoying being his assistant and working through the challenges that we come across in this project,” Rauch said.
According to Rauch, he’s always been interested in the arts, starting out making wearable masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of taking months to create accurate Stormtrooper masks taught him to work with a straight edge, among other tools that ended up being relevant for Erskine’s project.
Beekman said she tries to get lists from Erskine so she can get through as much of the work, particularly scouting libraries, without dragging him along, but he’s not the best with delegation or splitting his attention.
“It’s a really incredible journey to just witness what he’s navigating right now,” Beekman said.
The beginning of Erskine’s art was very different from the sleek, barely noticeable strips installed on skylights and windows; he used a mirror to reflect sunlight in one position, using it like a “paint bucket.”
“That went on to a person who was slowly rotating and filling up my whole studio with a spectrum of light,” Erskine explained. “I did all kinds of experiments there; then I started inviting museum people, you know, they got interested in that.”
In 1992, Erskine found out about a venue in Rome; with the Earth Summit happening that year and a growing interest in solar energy, it was the perfect opportunity. With the help of a contact, they arranged a show in the Imperial Roman Forum’s Trajan’s Markets. Erskine then took his work to Berlin and Los Angeles.
There have been some bureaucratic roadblocks, according to Erskine, with libraries having guidelines regarding insurance and other legalities, but they’re just taking it one step at a time. There has been a lot of support as well, and smaller towns tend to be a bit easier-going in terms of red tape.
More about Erskine’s work can be found on his website, or in the 2019 documentary made about him and his work, “Secrets of the Sun – Journey Into the Fire.”
