PLAYA campus and pond with the Fremont-Winema National Forest in the background

EMPHASIZING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND THE LAND THROUGH ART AND SCIENCE: PLAYA’s Approach to Socially and Ecologically Engaged Community-driven Art Projects Blending Art and Science in Rural Oregon

By: Olivia Ann Carye-Hallstein

Sitting at Summer Lake in the Great Basin in Rural Oregon, PLAYA hosts a number of residencies and other opportunities for artists working at the intersection of Arts and Science, Community and Justice. Kathryn Wilson, the Program Manager, at PLAYA describes the organization’s approach and understanding of successful engagement within their unique Rural Oregon location. Where tribal nations, ranchers, watershed councils, amongst other communities meet, many artists work within the communities to shed light and contribute through workshops, reflecting on the changing climate, the land, and cross-cultural engagement. For those interested in working with PLAYA, consider applying to the  2027 Art/Sci Awarded Residency application before it closes on June 30. 

Hi Kathryn, I would love to learn more about PLAYA’s relationship to its location situated in a high desert basin and surrounded by such a diverse community. How does your location contribute and inform the work you do there? 

Lake County's Oregon Outback informs everything we do--from the landscape to the community. The Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin Band of Northern Paiute have called this land home since time immemorial, and some more recent families have been ranching here for eight generations. Our programs are designed to introduce and immerse people in this breathtaking landscape, exposing them to its natural features: flora, fauna, geology, water systems, shorebirds, dark skies, and so much more. Our programs also use art as a pathway into relationship with, and knowledge about, this landscape. This region faces significant social and ecological challenges, and PLAYA works alongside the community to foster dialogue and serve as a partner in addressing these issues. We regularly host scientists conducting research in the region. Whether residents spend days unplugging and taking in the wide-open playa (or Summer Lake, depending on the time of year), exploring the wild Fremont-Winema forest, or walking through high desert wetlands, they often have a transformative experience.

Art/Sci Awarded Residency March 2026 cohort

Since PLAYA hosts a number of art/science residency opportunities in rural Oregon, often focused on specific ecological challenges, such as wildfires & water and BIPOC makers there must be a range of projects that you see. What does a successful residency period look like to you? 

A successful residency at PLAYA can take many forms, so we like to think of it as a living ecosystem of exchange, research, and mastery—where artists and scientists cross-pollinate ideas across disciplines, collaborate with the natural world, deepen their craft, and share dialogue, knowledge, and inspiration with Lake County locals. Some residents use unstructured time for creative exploration and production, while others spend their days in the field researching, playing, and discovering new approaches to their work. Strong collaborations and friendships often emerge as a result. A meaningful indicator of success is genuine community engagement, whether through workshops in local schools, outings with residents, or open studio tours. Rural Oregon is a living network of Tribal nations, ranchers, watershed councils, and more. For us, success means residents don't just make work about the community—they work relationally with it.

What an important consideration that often gets overlooked. Do you mind expanding? What do you find that art can uniquely contribute in working with a community ‘relationally’ to address the challenges faced in rural Oregon and beyond? 

Art brings people together to clarify what matters most to a community. When that consensus is visualized through art, it can help develop a strong core for the community to return to when deciding what to fight for and how to face challenges together. Community-driven art builds coalition, collaboration, relationships, and trust—skills that are essential for solving critical problems.

Art can have an enormous impact on communities facing socio-political and ecological challenges. When artists—even those who may not be local to a community—reflect back the opinions and stories of local residents, as well as the science and stories of the natural world within and around that community, their work creates an opportunity to see these issues in a new light. Artists and scientists who engage with locals also foster relationships and bonds with people who hold different perspectives on complex issues. 

Heather Goodwind in her studio at PLAYA, 2025

Keeping all this in mind, what kinds of projects have come out of previous residencies that you are particularly excited about?

Many collaborators have come through PLAYA, and many new collaborations have been born here when artists and scientists find each other in synchrony. One particularly exciting project is happening right now: spearheaded by Wildfire + Water artist Sabina Haque and poet Emilie Lygren, The Memory of Water: Field Notes from Pakistan & Eastern Oregon is a cross-cultural ecology exchange project connecting Oregon and Pakistan through water, salt, fire, migration, and climate memory. The project links students in Paisley, Oregon, with students in Karachi, Pakistan, through art and poetry centered on our shared climate crisis. The work will be on view this September at our Wildfire + Water Pop-Up exhibit at PLAYA.

Both PLAYA’s focuses on artistic engagement as well as impact sound really exciting to me. What will be next for PLAYA? 

We are excited to see how PLAYA will grow in the coming years, deepening the partnerships and collaborations that are central to its mission. The coming year will emphasize continued cohort programming, expanded educational partnerships, and public-facing programs that invite dialogue and shared learning. For instance, the Wildfire + Water: Artists and Scientists Adapting to Change residency Pop-Up Exhibit this September will be the culmination of a year-long immersion: new works by nine artists exploring the urgent issues of wildfire and water in Lake County. Informed by the expertise of local collaborators, the artists' works offer timely reflections on critical social and environmental issues in this region. Through long-term relationships with regional and academic partners, PLAYA aims to strengthen opportunities for artists, scientists, students, and community members to work together and respond to environmental and cultural change. 

We are open to hearing from groups we have not yet connected with who wish to start a collaboration with PLAYA. Whether through a campus rental, a collaboratively built program, or something else entirely, we are always looking for more opportunities for mutual growth.

Lake Abert, Lake County, Oregon

Thank you so much, Kathryn! For anyone interested in applying to the 2027 residency or other opportunities at PLAYA, Visit PLAYA’s website here.