November 3, 2025 – January 7, 2026
Now on display at the John O’Lague Galleria at Hayward City Hall.
PRESS RELEASE: Climate Change: Our Shared Humanity: Love Thy Neighbor
The Sun Gallery proudly presents its 12th Annual Exhibit on Climate Change and the Environment: ‘Our Shared Humanity; Love Thy Neighbor’ at the Sun Gallery in Hayward CA. The show opens on Friday, August 29, and will run through Friday, October 17, 2025.
An Artist’s Reception will be held on Saturday, August 30, from 12:00 to 3:00. The public is invited and admission is free. Light snacks and beverages will be served, and Pharaoh’s Dream, a local dance group, will perform during the reception in the courtyard.
Lobsters, Scorpions, and Sea Turtle sculptures appear together in a creative trio, designed with recycled and upcycled materials in a strong, organic, classical twist by artist Jon Kerpel. Edgy statements abound in Peter and Maureen Langenbach’s sculptures that don’t hold back any punches! Lots of interesting verbiage and innuendo, but all retaining their trademark whimsical style throughout.
Emerging artist MacArthur Nelson combines witty snark with fun, colorful designs, daring the viewer to enter into a world where just the right statements matter! In this exhibit, the Curator Dorsi Diaz notes that the word “contrast” is an accurate descriptor when viewing the show. Not only are there deep and thoughtful pieces, but in the same space are equally as many irreverent and fun pieces that bring on the glee!
Drawing on the theme’s seriousness, though, Diaz laments: “What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are already millions of climate change refugees worldwide. People are losing their homes and their way of life all over the world. Those who understand this are frustrated by the amount of delays and frivolous arguments in the political arena, distractions which only make it that much harder to work on the task at hand.”
What’s on Diaz’s mind is the immediate necessity to come up with a game plan among nations: How can we plan together to respond to these refugees? Are we going to toss them aside because they have lost everything? or are we going to do what real leaders do and come up with a visionary game plan on how we can “Love Thy Neighbor?”
“How can we get humanitarian aid to those in need? How can we help rebuild communities in a resilient way that won’t put as many people back into harm’s way again and again? Hopefully, in this exhibit, people can be touched by the serious nature of what we face, and most importantly, we all need to remember that we are a global village of neighbors. We all share the same home.”
An important addition to this year’s climate show is a performance art installation by climate researcher Harlin/Hayley Steele, titled “Apples of Discord” which has landed at the Sun Gallery after a global tour. Since 2019, Steele has led research teams at UC Davis in explorations of leading climate data sets and models. In 2024, Steele became managing director and founder of BasedMIP, with the aim of supporting youth involvement with the development of leading climate data models.
Due to federal “DOGE cuts”, Steele and her team’s funding has been cut, so they are under a tough deadline now to raise the funds to correct an “overpopulation metrics” myth that has permeated current climate models for decades. Steele invites small groups into her Apples of Discord performance to experience climate change research up close and personal on the day of the Sun’s reception. Steele comments, “Wildly, our research team is currently the only group in the world with the potential to remove the overpopulation metrics from the leading climate models in time for the IPCC deadline, which is technically at the end of the year.”
Included in Our Shared Humanity are a wide range of additional artists from the East Bay and beyond: Linda Nygard, Hollie Adamic, Dorsi Diaz, Patra Nesseth-Steffes, Deborah Gallegos, Azar Vaghefi, Larry Van Deusen, Harlin/Hayley Steele, Elinor Cheung, Ruey Syrop, Glenna Mills, Nahid Aria, Kimmy Overton, Andrew Kong Knight, Ann Boylan, Dante Fernandez, Laurie Price, Gerald Thompson, Bruce Roberts, Christa Schanda and Steven Bales.
In addition to the exhibit, this year’s annual environmental exhibit field trips are also being booked now through the Sun Gallery, who teaches environmental education through art using the “STEAM” method (science, technology. engineering, art and math) Tours can be held inside the Sun Gallery or on site at local schools.
The in-school environmental art lessons bring a teacher into the classroom with the books, art and materials to inspire a successful, educational and engaging art project. To book your tour, email the gallery at info@sungallery.org or call 510-581-4050 Friday-Saturday from 11-4.
Sun Gallery is a 501c3 non-profit located at 1015 E St. in Hayward, below Bret Harte Middle School. Hours are Friday and Saturday from 11-4 and admission is free. Both the City of Hayward and The Sun Gallery have been recognized both locally and nationally for their excellence in environmental education and outreach into the community on climate change.
After this first show, the exhibit will travel to the John O’Lague Galleria for an encore exhibit in Hayward City Hall from November 3, 2025 – January 7, 2026 to continue this important discussion on climate change. Many thanks to Hayward Arts Council and the City of Hayward for their support of climate education and art. The reception for the encore show is inside City Hall on Friday, November 14, 2025 from 5pm-7pm.