Theodore Payne Gallery

Current Exhibition

Studio Tutto – Seed Spires | April 1 – September 9, 2022

Artist meet and greet on April 1, 10 am – 2 pm, April 2, 12 pm – 2 pm

Artists Sofia Laçin and Hennessy Christophel of Studio Tutto present a two-part exhibition; a gallery installation and a series of earthen sculptures embedded with native seeds throughout the grounds.

On view in the gallery
The gallery installation imagines an urban environment designed to support all forms of life. The work layers abstracted imagery of LA’s urban hardscapes and lifeless landscaping with textured and diverse native habitats. The artwork will feature handmade pigments from local plants and soil.

Throughout Theodore Payne Foundation Grounds
Seed Spires are living sculptures made of compressed earth, sown with native plant seeds. Each spire contains a different blend of species, artfully selected by Genevieve Arnold, Seed Program Manager of TPF. Over time, the geometric forms sprout, grow, erode, bloom, and reseed.

Seed Spires are ephemeral, impermanent, ever-changing, and responsive to nature’s cycles and weather. While the spires in bloom do provide native nectar to local pollinators, we consider them symbols, a demonstration and invitation to re-imagine our urban landscapes. Seed Spires are intended to highlight the need for intentional and nourishing urban habitats to feed our dwindling pollinators.

Together the Seed Spires and gallery installation seek to spread awareness of pollinator collapse and the Sixth Mass Extinction, articulate our ever-mounting need for native habitats to replace concrete-minded thinking, and contribute in our own way to a shift in collective consciousness.

To learn more about Seed Spires and view the sculptures location map click here.

Save

About the artists

Studio Tutto is a collaborative studio between artists Sofia Laçin and Hennessy Christophel. Together they create site-specific installations to highlight often overlooked stories or foundational truths found in nature.

Over the past decade Laçin and Christophel have collaborated to make over 80 murals, sculptures, and installations in all kinds of spaces. In every site, their goal is to create a relevant beauty that brings people into their space, into their bodies – connecting people to their natural surroundings.

“We hope our artwork helps imagine a symbiotic relationship with nature. Although friction between nature and civilization will always exist, art can offer a bridge between the two.”