The 116 square foot Theodore Payne Gallery at our Sun Valley headquarters is open to the public during business hours. Three exhibitions are offered each year, featuring contemporary, modern, and historic artists whose work is influenced by our state flora, landscape, and natural history.

Current Exhibition

Devon Tsuno: LA River Seedlings

Saturday, May 5, through Saturday, August 18, 2018
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5, 1:00-3:00pm, with Artist Talk at 2:00pm – Refreshments will be served.

LA River Seedlings is a new installation of paintings and outdoor sculptures by Los Angeles artist Devon Tsuno. His project on view in the Theodore Payne Gallery is part of an ongoing series of work about native and non-native plants competing for space along the banks of the Los Angeles River.

Influenced by Japanese 19th Century Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and fabric, Tsuno’s abstractions of plants and water on canvas subtly create the illusion of collaged Washi paper with meticulously layered spray paint and acrylic.

Outside of the gallery, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains, Tsuno’s sculptural planters are placed in Theodore Payne Foundation’s demonstration gardens. These fabric sculptures are abstractions of water from the LA River, and they nurture native seedlings into larger, low-water plants that could be transplanted at a later date. With an emphasis on function and in the spirit of Mr. Theodore Payne, the sculptures imagine an optimistic future where native flora is redistributed throughout the city; bag-by-bag, and grown with reclaimed water using the latest technology.

This solo exhibition is Tsuno’s third project with Theodore Payne Foundation. Tsuno is a 2017 Santa Fe Art Institute Water Rights Artist-In-Residence, is the 2016 SPArt Community Grantee,and was awarded a 2014 California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Art.  His long-term interest in bodies of water, fishing and native plants in the LA area has been central to his work with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Big City Forum, Theodore Payne Foundation, and X-TRA contemporary art journal.

Tsuno has exhibited extensively in the U.S. and abroad at the Hammer Museum Venice Beach Biennial, Current: LA Water Public Art Biennial, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, U.S. Embassy in New Zealand, Edward Cella Gallery, Gallery O in Seoul, and Roppongi 605 in Tokyo. His work has been featured in Artillery Magazine, KCET Art Bound, and Notes on Looking. Tsuno received an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2005 and a BFA from California State University Long Beach in 2003. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at California State University Dominguez Hills in South Los Angeles. More about the artist and his work at www.devontsuno.com

Upcoming Exhibition

Julia Paull (2018 TPF Artist in Residence): Habitats at Risk
Saturday, Sept 8, through Saturday, Dec 29, 2018
Opening Reception: Saturday, Sept 8, 1:00-3:00pm, with Artist Talk at 2:00pm – Refreshments will be served.

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