IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BLING IN TIDEWATER’S AUGUST EXHIBIT

Downtown Stockton’s Tidewater Art Center & Gallery brings out the bling for its August exhibit. Entitled “4 the Joy of It”, it is a group show featuring the artwork of three resident jewelry artists, Gay Lynn Saunders, Susan Winton, Rebekah Burr-Siegel, and Lodi guest artist Debbie Kafton. This unique exhibit opens on August 3 and continues through September 3. A “Meet-the-Artists” wine and hors d’oeuvres reception is open to the public on Friday, August 13, from 5-8 p.m.

Together these four jewelry artists present a collection of wearable art that shows off their unique talents and artistic vision. For these artists, jewelry design is both a labor of love and a constant source of joy.

A Tidewater member since 2005, Saunders has been channeling her creative joy into designing and fabricating jewelry which is more art than jewelry. Fueled by a passion for stones and beads of all types and the infinite possibilities of their combination with wire, Saunders creates wearable art in a variety of styles.

Winton, a lampwork bead and kiln-fused dichroic art glass designer specializes in organic styles and nature-inspired designs, particularly reflecting the seashore and night sky.

An equally reluctant and obsessive beadweaver and ceramic artist, Burr-Siegel finds great solace and joy in working with her hands. Bead weaving is wonderfully meditative and quiet, two things she can never find enough time for, that provides multiple solutions to many problems.

A former stained glass artist, Kafton now focuses on lampwork beads. Her specialty is small and intricate florals and pictorial beads.

The Tidewater Art Center & Gallery, an artists’ collaborative located directly across the street from the county Courthouse at 223 E. Weber Avenue, is open Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.