Members of the public are invited to Wildfire + Water: Artists and Scientists Adapting to Change, a one-day event at PLAYA on September 26. This pop-up exhibit showcases art, poetry, installations, and performances by nine artists whose work has been informed by conversations with local experts and responds to the urgent, interconnected issues of wildfire and water access in Lake County.
The exhibition marks the culmination of a year-long collaboration during which artists engaged with local Century Ranch owners, as well as the Chewaucan Watershed Council, Lake County Watershed Council, Lake County Bureau of Land Management, Fremont-Winema National Forest, OSU Extension Fire Program, Summer Lake Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and others. Their experiences and conversations have informed artwork that reflects on the environmental, social and cultural challenges facing the region.
PLAYA is an arts and sciences residency and learning center located in the Oregon Outback, on the edge of Summer Lake and the Great Basin.
“It is an inescapable reality that wildfire and water are transforming our landscape in unprecedented ways. Our understanding of these forces is evolving as well,” says Ana Varas, PhD, executive director of PLAYA. “Adaptation is not simply something we do to the landscape, but something we do together. Perhaps the first step is to listen to one another, and to make space for different kinds of knowledge and experience.”
“We invite people to PLAYA to spend a day inside that uncertainty—to walk the land, encounter the artists’ work, listen to local knowledge, and enter into conversation.”
In the days leading up to the public event, PLAYA will also welcome students from Lake County and Paisley for educational tours and field trips designed to engage young people with the exhibitions and creative work on view.
Participating artists are Sarah Grew, Sabina Haque, M. Michelle Illuminato, Emilie Lygren, Daniela Naomi Molnar, Julia Oldham, Michelle Swinehart, Sasha Michelle White and Suze Woolf. The event brings together a diverse network of ecology, conservation, agricultural, research, and land-management organizations as well.
The pop-up event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
playasummerlake.org/events or call 541-943-3983.
