Dyana Hesson

Open Heart

Making Something New, 2023

I’ve been exploring this area of desert for over 25 years. As long as I can remember, there has been a pile of scalloped landscape bricks near the wash. I am guessing that even before Red Mountain Ranch was built, someone redoing their yard made the trek into the desert to discard what they no longer wanted. 

People do that. 

They dump their trash.

All things considered, it’s a shame. Dumping stuff in the desert, or out your window is littering. And, things like bricks can have a second life. 

The old can be made new. Re-imagined. Redeemed. 

Earlier this year I stopped and stared at the pile of bricks for a spell. I saw a problem to be solved. They should not be out here.  My back could not endure hauling them out of the desert altogether, so maybe I’d just build something new. 

Like the Heart if Prayer I built with friends out here after Sandy Hook, maybe a new heart, an open heart would be a nice place for a hiker to stop, rest, and be still. 

I thought I would get some help in moving the pile, for all I knew there was a dead body under all those bricks. But as it happened, I worked on the transformation alone. 

It gave me time to think. To process some hurts, some sorrow, some less than perfect circumstances, and to pray.  

As I moved each brick from its random spot in the pile to its new location in my design, I thought about the work God has done in my life. Using various trials for my good, transforming my junk into something useful, beautiful. I certainly am thankful for that.

Slowly, the pile shrunk and the heart grew. I decided to would make a break in the design. Keep the heart open so to speak. After all, a new year is cresting over the horizon and it would be good to stay open to new possibilities, new experiences, new friends. After all, by staying open, I could learn something new. 

So, if you’re out this way, maybe you’ll find the Open Heart. Maybe you’ll stop for a spell and think about your own pile of bricks.

It’s never too late.

You’re never too far gone.

Your life, no matter how messy can be a new creation.

Just keep your heart open. 

#openheartredmountain 

Dyana Hesson

Dyana was born in 1966 in the Gold Country of California. There she was always happiest outdoors. Her weekends were spent visiting the local nursery and working on the natural landscaping of her family’s home. When she was 12, her father gave her a camera. She began photographing all that was interesting to her; the trees, the flowers, and the natural landscapes.

After a short stay in Southern California (where she met and married her husband in 1985), she moved to Arizona. Although the climate and landscape varied drastically from that of California, the inspiration did not.

Dyana became interested in painting as a way to express things that she couldn’t through a lens alone. She chose oil as her medium because it possessed a fluid quality perfect for the subjects she was painting. She began to experiment with thin layers of carefully blended paint, and the results were luminous. She earned her degree in Art at Arizona State University in 1991 and graduated Magna Cum Laude. After a four year detour to southern Michigan, Dyana and her family returned to Arizona. She continues to live in Mesa with her husband Randy, daughter Sydney and Dog Boon.

Dyana is always in search of her next painting. She takes long hikes in the desert and mountains, and frequently visits botanical gardens across the country. She feels she has the most success when she has the luxury of bringing her subjects home. She then has more time to study them and combine them with other elements. Using only natural lighting in her paintings, timing and weather are always factors.

Dyana is most excited about using her art to glorify God by drawing attention to His creation. She feels that the relationships and opportunities to serve with her art have been the most valuable aspect of her career.

Dyana is a proud to be a Signature Member of American Women Artists, Founding member of the Phoenix Zoo Art Committee, and Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine Master of the Southwest, 2017.

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