Peter
I was born in 1941 in Wallingford, Connecticut. I grew up in the New Haven area, studied political science at Yale, took some studio art courses as a senior, and flew to India on a Fulbright the day after graduation. My nine months in India changed the direction of my life. When I returned to the States I went to art school and got a Masters in Sculpture from University of Pennsylvania. I taught sculpture for about 10 years at the college level, showing my work around the U.S. in various museums and galleries.
My three children are sons Ian (38 yrs.) and Cleo (27 yrs.), and my daughter Alice (23 yrs.). Ian is a thoughtful and innovative conservation biologist who is married to Viola, a costume designer-parents of my delicious 3 yr. old grandson Alan. Ian is Director of Audubon Society conservation sites in Cape Cod. Cleo is a brilliant writer, teacher, publisher, permaculture activist, and restorer of wetlands in the Bay area. Alice is a sublime player of the French horn who lives and plays in London.
In the late 80's my art medium became sunlight. I created a series of Solar spectum light and sound installations where I used the emotional impact of walking inside huge rainbow beams to wake people up to the dangers of global warming, ozone depletion and mass species extinction. My website www.ErskineSolarArt.net has photos of these Secrets of the Sun: Millennial Meditations installations. Now my art has segued more to the art of living to address what I see as society's most interesting and pressing dilemma: Peak Oil.
Through research, in 2004, I found out that global petroleum production was about to peak and that this could create the biggest change in human society since the agrarian revolution 5000 years ago. How will we live in a world that every year has less oil and natural gas, in a world where alternative fuels will not be able to fill the gap?
My research has convinced me that small cooperative eco-communities are the wave of the future in the time of Peak Oil. When I found Coho, I knew this was the one for me.
I like the people, design, policies, land, town, geography and the social / eco infrastructure of the Corvallis area.
Other important interests for me include world travel, nature, kayaking, spending time with my family, gardening, Transcendental Meditation (36 yrs.), The Work of Byron Katie, working to strengthen the local community for our new energy future, and making my art.
