Twelve artists, writers, and scientists have accepted invitations as 2011 Spring Residents at Playa between May 16th and June 24th. With stays of two- to six-weeks, these inaugural residencies are the trials for a long-term commitment by Playa to residencies at its facility in southeastern Oregon.
In addition to the 12 individuals, Dennis Jenkins and a team of four professional archaeologists will reside at Playa the week of June 6 to re-open Paisley Caves for the season and prepare for the Northern Great Basin archaeological field school June 20 – July 29. The Canadian Broadcasting Company recently aired an eight-minute segment about the First Americans in a piece called “Migrating to North America,” which features Dennis Jenkins and Paisley Caves. Dr. Jenkins was also keynote speaker in March at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting. Located near the eastern end of Summer Lake, the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves were originally excavated in the 1930′s by Luther Cressman of the University of Oregon.
During her six-week Residency Sal Strom of Newport, Oregon, intends to devote the majority of her time to a WWII video project. She says her art identity has expanded to include being a ‘creative cultural anthologist.’ She has “ been working against time to collect audio interviews with WWII veterans. I have interviewed WWII pilots as diverse as the Tuskegee Airmen to the Women’s Air Support Pilots (WASP). Also included are a 94 year young POW who helped build the Great Escape tunnel, and a member of Hitler youth. All branches of the military are represented. I have talked to and recorded WWII vets from 17 states and short segments will be shared with a non-profit organization Witness to War.” To view a five-minute video segment, click image.
Strom adds, the “Playa Residency will be an ideal situation for me as an artist at this juncture in my life. It should be a refuge to reclaim internal quiet in which to pay attention to internal dialogue, process information, make undisturbed decisions, keeping the non-essential things from intruding.”
At the Oregon Book Awards last month, John Daniel received the Sarah Winnemucca Award in Creative Nonfiction for The Far Corner, a collection of eighteen essays. Judge Kyoko Mori noted, “Mr. Daniel’s writing is at once precise and lyrical—equally compelling in passages that present ecological facts and in those that portray the elusive workings of memory, grief, or joy. … The book celebrates rootlessness and rootedness, the exuberant imagination of Ken Kesey’s writing and the spare beauty of Wallace Stegner’s, the solace of solitude and the rewards of community.”
Coinciding with Daniel’s month–long stay at Playa, he will read in Klamath Falls County Library on Wednesday, May 25th, at 6:30 p.m., and at the Redmond campus of the Central Oregon Community College on Thursday, May 26th, at 6:30 p.m. Bend writer Jane Kirkpatrick will also be featured at both of Literary Arts’ Oregon Book Awards Author Tour events.
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Summer. If an extended Residency isn’t your cup of sage tea, then consider participating with a group during summer. Playa opens the full facility for any combination of activities and lodging related to its non-profit purposes. Summer users, on a fee-basis, may choose day-use of the Commons, or overnights with lodging, for workshops, seminars, or outdoor activities that are artistic, literary, or scientific in nature. With this intentionally broad scope of possibility, the board and staff hope you will help us explore Playa’s potential. Please call Kris Norris, Playa Site Manager at 541-943-3983 or view the Summer tab.
2012. Playa announces its application and review process for 2012 Residencies, January-May and August-December. Application deadline is AUGUST 29 with notification about Octiber 1. Natural scientists, writers, and artists at all levels of accomplishment are invited to apply for one- to three-month residencies. A residency award provides accommodations, studios, and provisions at no cost. Please tell others, post on a listserve, and review details at the Residency tab on the Playa website. www.playasummerlake.org
A 360-degree pan and view of the dry lake bed of Summer Lake from a point near the former Summer Lake Inn, now the home of Playa, is courtesy of Craig E. Skinner of the Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory in Corvallis. A month after this picture was taken in 2002, the massive 92,000 acre Winter Ridge Fire completely burned the hillside immediately behind the buildings.