13th Annual Climate Change Show

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Sun Gallery

(Hayward)

Ongoing — November 13

(Friday-Saturday; 10am-4pm)

Climate Change: Mother Earth reveals Art, Poetry, Humor and the World where we live.

L2R: Peter Langenbach, Mother Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Colors, and Hyowon (Rachel) Son, Melting Tomorrow

Persistence + Rejuvenation = Sustainability. Persistence is about knowing when to challenge and when to pause. Rejuvenation allows us to reassess our strategies and return with fresh perspectives. Yin and Yang. Both are needed, if we are to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs. Some days, I have been pessimistic and convinced we are past the tipping point. Then, the Pandemic showed me the powerful self-healing properties of this blue-green orb, if we simply get out of our own way. That hope is the underlying message of Sun Gallery’s Annual Climate Change Show. Sun is a beacon of persistence, in that regard.

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

Featuring works by over 40 artists, in this exhibition artists 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. 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.

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. (The fourth bird can be found on this Blog’s Title Page.)

Reuse itself becomes part of the creative process in several works.

L2R: Larry Van Deusen's richly textured animal pieces [Left and Center] The Last Wolf and The Last Rabbit, were built from 12 layers of recycled paint applied with a palette knife. Meanwhile, [Right] co-curator Lamberto Roque transformed a piece of board from Oaxaca—originally part of a box—into the surface for his work The Corn Protector.

Katie Kerpel’s photographs from Antarctica and the Palmyra Atoll (1,000 miles south of Hawaii) are worth the drive to Hayward alone.

Members & Friends

L2R: SLAA member Deborah (Cricket) Gallegos, Elemental Earth and Springing to Life, and Friend of SLAA, Ruey Lin Syrop, The Lotus Pond in Spring

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 at 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. According to Kim, the work “explores love as an inherent part of human nature that transcends boundaries such as age and race.”

Poetry & Writings

Visual art shares space with writings by Hayward Poet Laureate Emeritus Bruce Roberts, Shakespeare Said It and Deluded (both too small to be effectively reproduced here). The couplet of works begins with the familiar image of the world as a stage, then 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.

Peter Langenbach, *Earth Mother Embraces Life*

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

For more information, click here.

Mother Earth