Shatto Gallery is pleased to present OUR RIVER: Floodplain and Future, the second iteration of our ongoing exploration into the significance of the Los Angeles River. This exhibition brings together a diverse group of artists whose work reflects on the river as both a vital ecological and cultural space, while addressing the challenges it faces in its ongoing transformation.

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Curated by Michelle Robinson, David Eddington, Da Aie Park, and Yujin Iris Jeong, the exhibition features a dynamic selection of paintings, sculptures, photography, video, installations, and mixed media works. Participating artists include Barbara Danzi, Beth Davila Waldman, Da Aie Park, David Eddington, Erin Cooney, Isabel Beavers, Jamie F. Adams, Jennifer Gunlock, Juniper Harrower, Lauren Bon, Laurie Freitag, Michelle Robinson, Jose "Prime" Reza, Sarita Zaleha, Stephanie Sherwood, and Sue Park.

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OUR RIVER: Floodplain and Future emphasizes the importance of maintaining the river’s ecological integrity, exploring its role as a habitat, a source of biodiversity, and a cultural touchstone. Each artist offers a distinct interpretation of the LA River, shedding light on its transformation while highlighting the delicate balance between urban development and environmental preservation. Through their work, the artists inspire reflection on how we can contribute to the river’s restoration and care.

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Join us as we celebrate the Los Angeles River’s past, present, and future, and continue to harness the power of art in the intersection of climate justice, social justice, and environmental restoration.

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On View June 7 - June 28, 2025

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Jamie F. Adams utilizes the modes of landscape and still life painting to explore the appearance of the world through intense observation, rendering a distilled moment in time. His drawings in this exhibition form a diaristic calendar of willow trees along the Glendale Narrows of the LA River, each reflecting the tree’s history shaped by strom waters, pruning, and survival.
 

Isabel Beavers (they/she) is a Los Angeles-based transdisciplinary artist working in new media and installation. Their practice explores the climate crisis through intersections of queerness, more-than-human ecologies, spirituality, and technology. Beavers has exhibited internationally and holds an MFA from SMFA at Tufts and a BS from the University of Vermont. They currently serve as Artistic Director of SUPERCOLLIDER LA and are the 2024–25 Hixon Riggs Early Career Fellow in STS at Harvey Mudd College.
 

Lauren Bon is the director of Metabolic Studio, which addresses critical social and environmental issues through experimental, systems-based projects. Her landmark work Not A Cornfield transformed a 32-acre industrial site in downtown Los Angeles into a living sculpture, challenging urban land use. Through Bending the River, a 20-year project, Bon is reconnecting the LA River to its historic floodplain via alternative water systems. She has exhibited widely, including at Desert X, La Biennale di Venezia, LACMA, The Hirshhorn Museum, and more.
 

Erin Cooney is a visual artist and educator whose work explores ecological crisis and environmental justice through video, performance, and community-based art. She is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at UCLA, teaching arts-based humanities courses in environmental, media, and food studies. Cooney has exhibited in North America and Australia, was a 2021–22 Sci-Art Ambassador at SUPERCOLLIDER, and formerly served as Associate Director of UCLA’s Counterforce Lab.
 

Barbara Danzi creates large-scale improvisational abstract quilts using freehand cutting techniques that give her seams a hand-drawn quality. She combines her engineering background, design training, and love of the outdoors to craft works inspired by technology and nature. Danzi’s award-winning quilts have been exhibited internationally, and she is active as a lecturer, juror, and judge in the fiber arts community. She is a Juried Artist Member of SAQA and a member of Textile Arts Los Angeles and the Textile Study Group of New York.
 

David Eddington is a London-born visual artist known for his large-scale acrylic and oil paintings. He studied at the Central School of Art and Trent University, and has exhibited widely across Europe and the U.S., with works in museum collections in the UK and Italy. Formerly a tenured professor at Plymouth University, he relocated to the U.S. in 2000, teaching in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Eddington now lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to actively exhibit his work.
 

Laurie Freitag is a Los Angeles-based iPhone photographer whose work explores themes of childhood, memory, and escape, shaped by her upbringing in New York and experience as a nanny. Her acclaimed series The Lost Years and other works such as In the Garden at Chislehurst and Lunar Sanctuaries have been exhibited internationally. Freitag has received numerous accolades, including the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and inclusion in Photolucida’s Critical Mass 200. She is also the founder of L.A. Photo Curator and N.Y. Photo Curator, platforms supporting emerging photographers and charitable causes.

Jennifer Gunlock
 

Juniper Harrower is an artist and ecologist whose work explores multispecies entanglements and environmental justice in the context of climate change. She holds a PhD in plant ecology from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA from UC Berkeley, blending scientific research with visual art and the environmental humanities. Harrower has exhibited internationally and received support from the National Science Foundation, NEA, and Creative Capital, among others. She currently teaches studio art as an assistant professor at Reed College.

 

Da Aie Park was born in Korea and studied at Seoul National University before relocating to Los Angeles in 1978. Her minimalist paintings explore the material nature of paint through layered glazes and carefully selected hues, recently incorporating Korean traditional materials like Hanji. Park is a studio artist at Angels Gate Cultural Center and has exhibited in eleven solo shows and numerous group exhibitions across the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

 

Sue Park is an award-winning photographer based in Los Angeles and the director of Shatto Gallery. A graduate of the New York Institute of Photography and Seoul National University, she captures fleeting moments of beauty through landscapes and intricate patterns. Park has held solo exhibitions internationally and published several books, including Anthology of Light and Monovision. Her work has earned over ten major awards, including “Photographer of the Year” from the International Photography Awards.
 

Jose “Prime” Reza is a pioneering graffiti artist born and raised in the Pico-Union District of Downtown Los Angeles. He is credited as a founding figure in Los Angeles stylized graffiti, known for blending East Coast techniques with bold, monochromatic Cholo-inspired lettering. Considered one of the most influential figures in LA street art, Prime has been recognized by Complex Magazine and The Vibe History of Hip Hop for shaping the city’s unique graffiti identity. - Written by Ben Higa

 

Michelle Robinson is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles with a background in environmental design, animation, and visualization. She has worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios for over 30 years, most recently as Head of Characters on the Oscar-winning Encanto. Robinson holds an MFA in Visual Art and has exhibited and published her work nationally, including in Fiber Art Now and Desert Forest. She has completed artist residencies at Joshua Tree Center for Photographic Arts, VCCA, PLAYA, and Oak Spring Garden Foundation.

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Stephanie Sherwood is an artist and curator based in Los Angeles, holding a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Cal State Long Beach and having studied at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. She is an active member of Durden and Ray and has exhibited her work in solo and group shows across Southern California. Sherwood has also curated exhibitions at institutions such as Torrance Art Museum, Angel’s Gate Cultural Center, and Galleria Rankka.

 

Beth Davila Waldman is a multidisciplinary artist born in Princeton, New Jersey, now based between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds degrees in art history and sculpture from Wellesley College and the San Francisco Art Institute, where she received the Harold E. Weiner Memorial Sculpture Award. Her work explores site and material through residencies and exhibitions across the U.S., Mexico City, Berlin, and Hong Kong. Waldman is part of the Monte Vista Projects Curatorial Collective, serves on the PhotoAlliance board, and recently published a mid-career retrospective catalog, Beth Davila Waldman 1997–2024.
 

Sarita Zaleha is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist and educator whose work examines environmental perception through climate change, history, and sensory experience. She has exhibited across the U.S. and completed residencies in Sweden and Iceland. Zaleha holds an MFA in printmaking from the University of Iowa, along with degrees in biomedical engineering, religion, and art history. She has received numerous awards and currently teaches at UC Santa Barbara.