Dyana Hesson is a nationally recognized botanical artist living in the Southwest. She studied art at Arizona State University where she developed her style of applying thin layers of oil paint with very little texture. Her radiant paintings are collected worldwide and her series, True Blue Arizona was featured in Arizona Highways Magazine in March 2020.

Currently 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. This show runs through December 7th, 2025.

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.

Dyana lives in Mesa, Arizona with her husband, daughter and Jack Russell terrier, Boon. She has a case of incurable wanderlust, and a love affair with God’s creation.

Artist's Statement:

It is a privilege and pleasure to be a fine artist in today’s world. It is a pleasure because I get to wake every morning and do what I love and pour my soul into creating something beautiful. It is also a privilege because with creating comes responsibility. My desire is to create a safe place where a viewer’s eyes can land and rest for a while. It has been said that the only two things that can pierce our hearts are beauty and affliction, and if this is so, we need a measure of beauty in our lives in equal proportion to our affliction. My unspoken agreement with my collectors and fans is that I will always bring my very best to you. I will work hard to bring a measure of beauty to your world with all the ability God has given me.

Dyana Hesson

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