Various iterations of “design thinking” have come into play over the years, but the process as we currently know it consists of five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.

We think we know workplace stress. We avoid it, we are overwhelmed by it, we relish it, we handle it, we thrive from it. But do we really understand it?

Artist Shane Grammer knew he had to paint the brick chimney the moment he saw a photo of it — the only part of a friend’s house in Paradise still standing after the Camp Fire devastated the town. The fire started tearing through the area on Nov. 8, 2018, becoming the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

Amy Seiwert is only the fourth artistic director in the Sacramento Ballet’s 65-year history. Seiwert — who danced with the company from 1991 to 1999 — assumed the role in July 2018. Comstock’s recently spoke with Seiwert about her vision and goals for the ballet.

The first book Amy Altstatt wrote was about a little girl in a world in which color represents what one wants to be when grown up. The girl tries different colors to see which one suits her, but none feels  right. Then she cries, and, in her rainbow tears, she realizes all the colors are part of her.

How and when to give feedback to rejected candidates. 

As they say, timing is everything. I’m writing this on the one-year anniversary of the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed African American man who was shot by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard.

It’s safe to say Jeffrey Callison never gives a thought to the Transcontinental Railroad when his alarm wakes him at 5:25 a.m., even though May 10 marks the TCRR’s 150th anniversary.  

The construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad was one of the greatest engineering feats in American history, one whose ramifications are felt to this day. The six-year project involved two competing railroad companies laying nearly 1,800 miles of track across the continent, linking west with east.

Angela Tannehill considers herself lucky. Although the Elk Grove-based graphic designer of more than 26 years earned her bachelor’s degree in fine arts, she only began working as an artist a few years ago, and now her mixed-media work is drawing the attention of private art collectors, art consultants and public-art project organizers.