Kyle Campbell of Port Costa, a senior at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, took a class in the art of glassmaking three years ago. He has since studied glass flameworking at the Crucible, a non-profit educational academy in Oakland that teaches "everything from blacksmithing to woodworking." In his carport studio at home, Kyle uses a bench-mounted 2000-degree oxygen-propane torch to craft glass beads, marbles and pendants.

Dan Robertson assumed the editorship of the historic Crockett Signal when he took over as publisher of the monthly news and arts magazine in 1987. Since that time, Dan can be seen in and around the Crockett community with notebook and camera, covering politics and town meetings, Chamber of Commerce events, social affairs and breaking news. An art major at UC Berkeley, Dan continues to pursue his love of art in his studio at home. He often paints from snapshot photo images he takes around town and while on vacation, earning a batch of blue ribbons for his canvases at county fairs, and kudos from art and poetry magazines. "It’s a matter of looking at the world," he says.

Karen Peterson of Crockett was inspired to create art from bottlecaps after taking a class at the Richmond Art Center. "I realized how much potential is in that 1:05-inch circle, and started experimenting with various ways to seal images. Now, about eight years later, I’m having fun combining three-dimensional elements with vintage caps." Karen’s work, as senior program manager for Seacology, an international nonprofit organization that helps fund needed environmental and cultural projects of benefit to island communities, takes her around the globe.

Charlotte Stewart earned her status as a pop culture icon in the role of Miss Beadle, the schoolteacher in "Little House on the Prairie," and Mary X, the bizarre character in David Lynch’s first film, "Eraserhead." In her acting career she has starred in such roles as a carhop opposite Elvis Presley in "Speedway," as Betty Briggs in seven episodes of "Twin Peaks," and as the mother of the little girl with the pogo stick in "Tremors," opposite Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. Charlotte has also guest starred in such TV dramas as The Office and Cold Case. She resides in Napa, where she designs and creates up-cycled denim handbags and Chicken Feed shopping bags.

Lily List of Port Costa has always liked drawing. "It’s fun to express yourself with your hands. I like to draw stuff that I see. It’s fun to doodle and show what you’re thinking," she says. "I’d like to go to an art school. Maybe I’ll take some summer art classes in San Francisco next year. I like to see what I can do. I like to see what I can accomplish without being pressured or getting graded on it. I would like to learn how to paint with acrylics and pastels."

The work of the late artist Roy De Forest of Port Costa has been described variously by colleagues and art reviewers as "full of whimsy, profound, funny, deadly serious, and fiercely independent." As a professor in the UC Davis art department of the 60s, 70s and 80s, Roy De Forest was one of the most prominent artists of his generation. "Roy was a man with a good and great sense of irony," said artist Wayne Thiebaud, professor emeritus and longtime friend at UC Davis. "He was not into any kind of preciousness, prestige or any of that kind of nonsense. He pursued his work with real genuineness, regardless of what others thought."

Regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20^th century in Buryatia (Russia, Eastern Siberia), Alla Tsybikova was posthumously awarded the titles of "Honorable Artist of Russia" and "Honorable Artist of Buryatia." According to art critics, Tsybikova remained true to herself and did not give in to "political winds" or trends in Soviet art. She was very talented and accomplished as a person and artist, creating many art works that brought her popular recognition despite the fact that her works were rarely exhibited in Buryatia.