Tracy Carlton took an unconventional path to her art career, launching a as a creative expression coach and teacher last year following a 21-year career at First 5 Amador, the Amador County branch of the statewide nonprofit commission dedicated to improving early childhood development.

Carrie Hennessey has been known to belt out a tune while walking her dogs outside of her South Natomas home, but the neighbors in this otherwise quiet neighborhood don’t seem to mind. She picked up the moniker “Opera Mom” while her two children (now in their 20s) were in elementary school, but there is a lot more to her.

In revisiting her early self-portraits, Betty Nelsen has zeroed in on the strongest elements, cropping the drawings into pages that will go into a series of handmade books.

When she performs, singer and songwriter Beti Masenqo leaves this earthly plane in a way that seems entirely effortless.

With her recent exhibition “Heavier Than Air,” artist Summer Ventis encouraged viewers to externalize their held breaths by inflating a balloon.

Art has been used to capture the moments in society that have forever altered the course of history, and to translate complex emotions. With this philosophy, two artists and educators formed a community healing practice. 

The artist builds piñatas in various forms of cultural artifacts. Each is a temporary monument to family, identity and cultural heritage.

Unity Lewis recently curated a series at Crocker Art Museum that brought his grandmother’s book into the three-dimensional world by pairing works of artists from previous generations with their modern counterparts who will carry the torch.

At Twisted Track Gallery in Sacramento, which recently emerged as a keystone of the thriving R Street art scene, one wall is devoted to a triptych of the feminine divine.

To Celeste Perez, who goes by Digital Mami, urban scenes are canvases waiting to be glossed up by saturated color and saucy sayings.