The Ironwood Gallery at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is honored to host Wild Arizona. A celebration of 35 years of art by Dyana Hesson. Known for her vibrant, large-scale oil paintings, Hesson often features singular plants in precise, minimalist compositions that elevate their beauty and form with scientific clarity and personal reverence.
Each work in this exhibition is rooted in Hesson’s lived experience, with subjects discovered through hikes, ecological fieldwork, and restoration efforts across the state. Whether planting native willows along the Salt River or rafting through the Grand Canyon, she engages the land as both artist and naturalist. Hesson states, “I simply can’t get enough of Arizona—its sun on my face, its dirt under my feet, its colors on my palette,” and that is clearly reflected in her bold and dramatic work.
The exhibition features new works alongside rarely seen paintings from private collections, offering the most expansive public presentation of her art in years. Wild Arizona is both a visual celebration and a call to action—an invitation to see the quiet resilience of the desert and to join the artist in her lifelong adventure to preserve its wildness.
Hesson is represented by Bonner David Gallery - Scottsdale/New York, Manitou Galleries - Santa Fe, and Madaras Gallery - Tucson. Her work has also been featured in Arizona Highways Magazine and is held in both public and private collections.