Playa at Summer Lake

05/08/2026

Learn how to ethically forage pigments and transform them into any type of paint or ink while exploring the poetics and philosophies of a pigment-making practice.

Pigment + Place Workshop
Taught by Daniela Naomi Molnar
Guest Instructor Heidi Gustafson
🗓️ May 22-June 1
💲 From $1,133
📍 PLAYA, 47531 Highway 31, Summer Lake, OR 97640

This 10-night workshop/residency is an immersive experience designed for all pigment workers; whether you are new or continuing, you will find your place in this inspiring course. You’ll receive the expert guidance of two dedicated pigment workers: artist/poet Daniela Naomi Molnar and artist/ochre specialist Heidi Gustafson. In collaboration with PLAYA’s unique landscape, you’ll learn to see the world as your palette, a transformative practice that will spark change in your creative life. The skills you learn will also apply to your home bioregion, and you’ll also bring home creative collaborations, gorgeous colors, and a revitalized creative life.

Highlights
🎨In collaboration with PLAYA’s unique landscape, you’ll learn to see the world as your palette, a transformative practice that will spark change in your creative life.
🎨You’ll learn how to ethically forage pigments and transform them into any type of paint or ink, and how to apply these to your home bioregion.
🎨In this vast, open space, making pigments from rocks, plants, bones, and wild waters, you’ll interact directly with ancient timescales, finding new insights, inspiration, and artistic paths.
🎨Guided field trips will offer the opportunity to explore this exceptionally beautiful and diverse region. We’ll go on short hikes to get to know pigment sites, ancient petroglyphs, and other regional wonders.

🦅 Extend your stay at PLAYA by pairing this Workshop with the Taking a Closer Look Workshop or IN A LANDSCAPE PLAYA Experience and stay at PLAYA for free the nights in between!

05/08/2026

Work at PLAYA is built through connection—between people, disciplines, and place.

That connection carries forward into classrooms, research, exhibitions, writing, and communities.
Each residency creates a ripple.

Your support during our May matching campaign helps that work continue.

If you know someone who cares about this work, please share this post with them.

And please give now through the link in our bio. Every gift will be doubled. 

05/04/2026

Pioneer Saloon and Restaurant is looking for a summer cook. A great opportunity to immerse with the Oregon Outback community in Paisley!

Help wanted. Please reply via email to [email protected]

05/01/2026

The May matching campaign is here.
PLAYA has received a $25,000 matching grant from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund. This May, every gift of $2,500 or less will be doubled.

Together, we have the opportunity to raise $50,000 to support residencies for artists and scientists and protect this precious ecosystem.

If PLAYA has been part of your story, this is the moment to give.

Give now through the linktree in our bio.

04/25/2026

Application closes in 3 weeks! PLAYA, PRAx and Spring Creek Project are partnering to offer this new interdisciplinary fellowship: Migration in Changing Climates.

This fellowship invites applicants working in writing, ethics and philosophy, visual art, performing arts, sound, and multidisciplinary genres to propose projects that engage migration as an ecological, cultural, ethical and imaginative force reshaping where and how life can move.

The year-long program will bring eight selected fellows together to explore ecologies of migration in the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin, including human and other-than-human lives. Creative projects will engage with the living dynamics of migration — of birds, mammals, plants, and/or people. Those interested can apply individually or with a collaborator.

Learn more and apply by May 15 at the link in bio.

04/24/2026

One week to go.

PLAYA’s spring matching campaign begins May 1. Every gift of $2,500 or less will be doubled through a $25,000 grant from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund.

Together, we have the opportunity to raise $50,000 to support residencies for artists and scientists and protect this precious ecosystem. 

Plan to give on May 1—or get us started early. Gifts made now will be included in the match. 

Give through the link in our bio.

04/24/2026

Use the tools of art and science to explore how water, and lack of water, shape the unique ecosystems of Oregon’s Great Basin. Explore how perception changes with scale and how data can be incorporated into artwork to provide context and visual richness.

Taking a Closer Look: The Ecology of Summer Lake Through an Artist’s Lens Workshop taught by Jerri Bartholomew
🗓️ May 14-19
💲from $299
📍 PLAYA, 47531 Highway 31, Summer Lake, OR 97640

In the field, we’ll explore the different habitats associated with Summer Lake and the neighboring Lake Abert. We will take day trips to explore the lakes and the ecosystems that define them, including Winter Ridge in the Fremont-Winema Forest, and the Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge through which the Ana River flows. When possible, we’ll be joined by local biologists to provide their unique insights, and we’ll collect samples and data to explore further in the studio. We will carpool to sites of interest in personal vehicles.

In the studio, we’ll examine the collected material under the microscope to see complexities you can’t see with your naked eye. Using drawing and gel printing, and/or a medium of your choice, you will explore how perception changes with scale and how data can be incorporated into artwork to provide context and visual richness. Participants will keep a notebook and will create a collection of annotated prints or booklets describing the different ecosystems.

This weekend includes:
★ 5-night stay on the serene PLAYA campus
★ 1 group dinner by PLAYA’s house chef

Participants will leave this Workshop with an appreciation of the diverse ecosystems that contribute to Summer Lake, an appreciation for how scientific data can be used to enhance artistic expression, and an understanding of how art and science inform each other.

Learn more and book at link in bio.

04/17/2026

We are thrilled to share that we have received a $25,000 matching grant from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund that will double all gifts of $2,500 or less.
At PLAYA, the landscape, the quiet, and the community create space for new ideas to take root.

If you’ve been part of PLAYA, we’d love to hear from you.

❓What did your time here inspire?

We invite you to share with us creative work you made at PLAYA by emailing a link, photo, video, or file to the email link in our bio.

We also encourage you to support PLAYA and check out our upcoming events and workshops by visiting the link in our bio. Thank you to everyone who helps make our work possible.

We count on individual  donors to support our mission. Donate now.  Support PLAYA via our link in bio.

PLAYA’S MISSION ✨✨✨
PLAYA nurtures innovative thinking in the arts and sciences through its residency and workshop programs on the edge of the Great Basin, to promote dialogue and positive change in the environment and the world.

04/15/2026

Community Dark Sky Star Party + Open Mic Night
this Saturday! In celebration of International Dark Sky Week 2026, PLAYA is thrilled to invite the community to a free evening of cosmic wonder and local talent.

🔭 Community Dark Sky Star Party + Open Mic Night
🗓️ Saturday, April 18, 2026
⏰7:30-10:00PM
💲Free and open to the public; RSVP required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1969888066234?aff=oddtdtcreator
📍 PLAYA campus, 47531 Highway 31, Summer Lake, OR 97640, between mile markers 81 and 82

The Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary offers one of the most pristine night skies on the continent, and PLAYA is proud to be your local host for an evening that celebrates it. This family-friendly gathering is all about coming together as a community to enjoy the awe-inspiring views we’re lucky to have just outside our doors. Whether you’re a longtime resident or new to the area, join your neighbors for a night of guided stargazing, creative expression, and hands-on activities for all ages.

The celestial exploration will be led by seasoned educators and astronomers, including Joe Minato of .

Adding a unique twist to the night, the event will also feature an Open Mic segment. attendees are invited to share their hidden talents—whether music, poetry, storytelling, or comedy—in five-minute slots. Extra kudos given to night-sky-themed performances.

Throughout the evening, younger stargazers can enjoy dedicated kids’ activities that blend arts and crafts with lessons about the night sky, fostering a love for science and creativity simultaneously.

PLAYA will provide cozy treats and hold a free raffle for special gifts.

Photos by Joey Hamilton of Dark Sky Oregon.

04/11/2026

Here’s how one resident described the experience:
“PLAYA was my first residency experience and I did not know what to expect. I was surrounded with dedicated, talented people. My month at PLAYA launched an 11 year collaboration with a photographer. The friendship, the place, the room to think — this was a life-changing experience.”

At PLAYA, the landscape, the quiet, and the community create space for new ideas to take root.
If you’ve been part of PLAYA, we’d love to hear from you.

❓What did your time here inspire?

We invite you to share with us creative work you made at PLAYA by emailing a link, photo, video, or file to the email link in our bio.

We also encourage you to support PLAYA and check out our upcoming events and workshops by visiting the link in our bio. Thank you to everyone who helps make our work possible.

We count on individual donors to support our mission. Donate now. Support PLAYA via our link in bio.

PLAYA’S MISSION ✨✨✨
PLAYA nurtures innovative thinking in the arts and sciences through its residency and workshop programs on the edge of the Great Basin, to promote dialogue and positive change in the environment and the world.

04/07/2026

Spring sale extended! Enjoy 10%-off the May Self-Directed Residency.

🗓️ May 7-11
💲From $140
📍 PLAYA, 47531 Highway 31, Summer Lake, OR 97640
Summer Lake is warm, green and wild in May; spend an idyllic early summer vacation at PLAYA this Mother’s Day Weekend. Treat your mother, loved one, or yourself, to the best month in Summer Lake.

🦅 Extend your stay at PLAYA by attending this and Taking a Closer Look Workshop two programs back to back and stay at PLAYA for free the nights in between!

Use code SPRING10 at checkout to enjoy 10% off! See link in bio for more.