Climate Change: Mother Earth

Sun Gallery’s “Climate Change: Mother Earth” Brings Together Art, Poetry, Humor and the World We Are Inheriting

September 25 – November 13, 2026

Artist Reception: Saturday October 3, 12 – 3 PM

Beauty and loss. Humor and resilience. Moody mystery and colorful chaos.

Sun Gallery’s newest exhibition, “Climate Change: Mother Earth” brings together artists, writers and young people responding to the natural world—and to the complicated relationship human beings have with the planet we call home.

Running September 25 through November 13, 2026, the exhibition asks artists to give Mother Earth a voice while exploring what is beautiful and resilient, what has already been lost, what remains at risk, and what might still be protected, restored or reimagined.

Featuring work by over 40 artists, the exhibition moves through beauty, humor, loss, resilience and colorful chaos as artists consider our changing relationship with the natural world.

That range can be felt throughout the gallery.

Gerald Thompson’s oil painting, Sunset at the Funerals, brings a moody and mysterious presence to the exhibition, while photographer Hollie Adamic transports visitors to Alaska through photographs from her expedition depicting wildlife, glaciers and immense frozen landscapes.

Humor appears unexpectedly in Peter Langenbach’s A Pride of Very Colorful Birds, a series of four eccentric wood-carving and mixed-media sculptures created entirely from recycled and upcycled materials. Rather than grouping the flock together, the four wide-eyed birds have been scattered throughout the gallery, injecting a bit of colorful chaos into the exhibition. Visitors are encouraged to find their favorite, take a selfie with it, and share it for possible inclusion on Sun Gallery’s social media pages.

Reuse itself becomes part of the creative process in several works. Larry Van Deusen’s richly textured animal pieces by in the exhibition were built from 12 layers of recycled paint applied with a palette knife, while co-curator Lamberto Roque transformed a piece of board from Oaxaca—originally part of a box—into the surface for his own work in the show.

Younger voices join the conversation

The exhibition also includes work by several local high school students, bringing younger voices into the conversation and offering a glimpse of how young people are responding creatively to the world they are inheriting.

In Ellie Kim’s Embrace of Nature, three overlapping hands surrounded by flowers and foliage create an intimate image of human connection. Kim says the work “explores love as an inherent part of human nature that transcends boundaries such as age and race.”

Visual art shares the gallery with poetry and writing, including Shakespeare Said It by Hayward Poet Laureate Emeritus Bruce Roberts. Beginning with Shakespeare’s familiar image of the world as a stage, Roberts brings the metaphor into the present, contemplating everything from war and intolerance to natural disasters and climate change before returning to art, family and hope.

Together, these different voices reveal something at the heart of Mother Earth: the exhibition is not simply about what is happening to the Earth. It is about how human beings are living, creating and finding meaning within it.

The exhibition also marks a hands-on curatorial experience for Sun Gallery’s new curatorial intern, Kaitlin Cruey, who has assisted with art intake, created exhibition labels and worked directly with participating artists throughout the process.

Artist Reception and Programs

The public is invited to an Artist Reception Saturday, October 3, from noon to 3 p.m., with light appetizers and beverages. Throughout the exhibition, participating artists will also present live demonstrations and artist talks, giving visitors additional opportunities to meet artists and learn more about their work and creative processes.

Sun Gallery
1015 E Street
Hayward, CA 94541
510-581-4050
sungallery.org