Join us for the St. Patrick’s Day Brew Crawl, Studio Seven Arts will be participating and pouring. Demonstrating will be Debbie Wardrope, Barbara Santos and Opal Candies.
Debbie Wardrope is a Bay Area native and longtime Pleasanton resident who has always loved art and has pursued painting for most of her life, even during her 20-year career in mortgage banking.
Debbie graduated "With Distinction" from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland with a BFA in illustration. Her work has been recognized through numerous awards. She has exhibited in many group and solo shows, such as Art Expo in New York and has shown her paintings in galleries from Yountville to Carmel. Debbie's work is included in private and corporate art collections around the nation. Locally, both Alameda County and the City of Pleasanton own her original paintings.
Debbie's primary medium is soft pastel, but she also paints in oils and acrylics. Debbie says, "I believe that art should be beautiful, accessible and evoke an emotional response in the viewer. I strive to create images that are immediately recognizable but are frequently overlooked in the rush of everyday life. I love to capture the glory of God’s creation through the use of light and color.”
A signature member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast, Debbie teaches oil, acrylic and pastel painting classes for adults and art classes for children through the City of Pleasanton and the Town of Danville. She has also done demonstrations and workshops for numerous art associations throughout the Bay Area.
Debbie was honored to be selected by Senator Ellen Corbett to produce a painting representing her district to hang at the state capitol building in Sacramento, CA. The painting, “Pleasanton Evening,” was on display in the meeting rooms behind the Senate Chamber for a year. Prints of Debbie’s work are on display in numerous businesses including Stanford/ValleyCare Hospital and the Pleasanton Marriott and one of her paintings is featured on the cover of a book titled, “Cruising Down Memory Lane,” a collection of stories about Pleasanton. Debbie has also been a judge for the Alameda County Fair and the Pleasanton Art League art shows as well as several others. One of her greatest joys has been working with a team of friends to create three murals at Village of Hope Guatemala.
Debbie’s classes were voted “Best of the Best” in 2023 by Diablo Magazine.
Barbara Santos is passionate about learning, she is always striving to discover new and creative ways of making jewelry pieces. She is often taking a class that will teach her new techniques in soldering, casting and working with glass. She started with beading and then took a class making chain Maille necklaces and bracelets, this class was the one! She started on her journye to making arrings, bracelets and necklaces out of sterling silver rings, these pieces are gorgeous, easy to wear and feel soft on the skin. Studio Seveen Arts features her bracelets and necklaces made from 925 sterling silver rings; each one is a wearable work of art that only gets better the longer you wear them. Barbara is a native Pleasanton Californian born and raised right here in Pleasanton.
Opal Candies are created by the designer duo, Yuliya and Tetiana. Two friends who are local to the Bay Area. Both Yuliya and Tetiana have moved to the USA from Ukraine. Yuliya arrived in 1991. Tetiana arrived in 2022 she is a war refugee. Tetiana has survived the Russian occupation and horrific massacres in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. The friends have begun creating and handmaking jewelry from natural opal, to help Tetiana heal her Post Traumatic Syndrome and raise funds for the Ukrainian orphanage. They donate a portion of all of their proceeds to the all-girls Ukrainian orphanage, located in the Ukrainian town, Kamenskoe. Sometimes they use the raised funds to donate to other charitable causes as well. Opal Candies are made with Ethiopian opals and whit topaz set in 18 Kt gold plated over sterling silver or stainless steel. These pieces are stunning and will be noticed each time you wear them.
