The Giving Tree is a group exhibition curated by Jill Dawsey, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, bringing together 15 artists from the greater San Diego-Tijuana region who celebrate the intelligence and generosity of trees. Borrowing its title from Shel Silverstein’s enduring 1964 children’s book, the exhibition offers an anti-tribute to its familiar story of selfless giving, reconsidering instead humanity’s complicated relationship with the natural world.
In Silverstein’s story, a tree gives and gives to a boy until she is ultimately reduced to a stump. Long interpreted as a parable of maternal selflessness and charity, the story can also be understood as a fable about human consumption and our sense of entitlement to nature. The Giving Tree asks what becomes possible when we move beyond this familiar model of extraction and consider trees as active participants in complex, interconnected communities.
Bringing together drawing, painting, photography, poetry, and sculpture, the exhibition imagines trees not as scenery or passive subjects, but as protagonists in the world. Recent ecological research suggests that trees communicate, share resources, and form cooperative relationships across species. Several works in the exhibition explore forests as spaces of continuous renewal, while others emphasize the vulnerability of trees and the consequences of human consumption.
Together, these artists create a kind of forest within the gallery— one that reflects the interconnected lives of trees alongside the collective intelligence of artists. The Giving Tree invites us to reconsider what it means to live within an ecosystem, and to imagine a relationship with the natural world grounded not in ownership and extraction, but in mutuality and care.
The exhibition features Space 4 Art resident artists Andrew Alcasid and Bridget Rountree, former S4A resident artists Lorena Mostajo and Siobhan Arnold (1970–2023), who is part of the duo SIEN Collective with Meaghan Shein, alongside Jennifer Anne Bennett, Andrea Chung, scott b. davis, Thomas DeMello, Jeanne Dunn, Fiona Martinez, Amy Pachowicz, Griselda Rosas, Melanie Taylor, Ruth Wallen and Lynn Susholtz.
Exhibition Details
Title: The Giving Tree
Curator: Jill Dawsey
Exhibit Dates: August 29 - September 26, 2026
Gallery Hours: Fridays 1-7 p.m.; Saturdays 12-6 p.m.; or by appointment
Opening Reception: August 29 | 5-8 p.m.
Closing Reception + Artist Talk: September 26 | 12-3 p.m.
Free Workshops: (To Be Updated Soon!)
Location: Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., San Diego
Presented by: Space 4 Art in partnership with Art Produce
Supported by: The Prebys Foundation Arts Ecosystem Grant
For press inquiries, interviews, or additional information, please contact Katie Ruiz: katie@sdspace4art.org.
This Space 4 Art-produced exhibition is the sixth of seven exhibitions as part of our year-long residency at Art Produce, funded by a generous grant from the Prebys Foundation.
The year-long programming partnership between Space 4 Art and Art Produce aims to expand support for local artists, deepen community engagement, and strengthen the city’s creative ecosystem through exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, and cross-organizational collaboration.
The Prebys grant aims to help address structural challenges such as the lack of affordable arts spaces where community-based organizations like Space 4 Art can produce accessible arts programming.
The Space 4 Art @ initiative provides a synergistic means for activation at Art Produce, which remains committed to building on decades of creative experimentation and community-building in North Park.