Help needed to light up Amherst's 250th anniversary

By TERRY ROONEY

Published on October 23, 2009

In the fall of 2007, Nora Maroulis of wnderarts approached me, as the chairman of Amherst's Public Art Commission, about a special public arts project that an artist friend had conceived.

That's when I was introduced to Erika Zekos, an architect/artist who fell in love with the tobacco sheds of the Valley. She wanted to honor farmers and highlight these vanishing barns by lighting one from the inside like an architectural lantern for Amherst's 250th anniversary. What an art project that would make.

I immediately imagined the beauty of shafts of light on the winter landscape when the tobacco barn louvers were open and light shined from within. I thought of the lost lights of the Twin Towers and of how wonderful it would be to light up a structure that was still here, given the vanishing nature of the tobacco sheds in our Valley.

In a broader sense, I wondered if we could also reflect the wider community in this effort showing our progressive work in conservation and education and suggested to Erika that we incorporate solar energy in this project to help run the lights, and also tap into the university for guidance in designing the system. She readily agreed and on St. Patrick's Day ( a "green" holiday) we found the perfect site on the Swartz Family Farm (an organic hydroponic farm, which will soon be featured on WGBY's "Making it Here" for its conservation farming practices). We were fortunate enough to interest professor David Damery of the University of Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources who joined our planning team.

Recently, I was introduced to Alteris Renewables, a solar company which offered a wonderful program. If you qualify, they would for $1,000 install solar panels for use on your residence, maintain and repair them, with a fixed rate of electricity for 18 years. This seemed perfect for our limited budget, (we have written many grants and have a total of $4,000 from various sources).

As I was firming up our agreement for the solar on this project, the Commonwealth Solar Rebate Program cancelled any further applications for solar rebate on Oct. 6; they had exhausted the fund two years early.

While it is good news that so many people converted to solar, it was bad news for us since that success caused the Alteris solar program to be cancelled. While there are many facets to this project, including a public exhibit, lecture and the lighting of the barn, solar is a significant piece of this project.

So I've been on the phone all week, leaving no stone unturned to keep this project solar.

If anyone out there has a solar panel to donate, connections or money to help make this happen, please call or email us. What can I say, I'm a cockeyed optimist and I believe in this community and want to show it in the best "light."

"Shedding Light" produced by the Amherst Public Arts Commission with Zekos is scheduled at the Swartz Family Farm for the month of December. At the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve, we were hoping to hand over the solar energy panels to the farm.

Terry Rooney is the chairwoman of the Amherst Public Arts Commission. She can be reached at Trooney51@comcast.net.