Betty has always been interested in photography, and finally began learning about it by trial and error in 2000.

A Chester native, she still uses film, both color and black and white. For her, photography is actually looking for the light, not so much about the things we want to show others, but about examining the way light alters or reveals things to us. She finds it interesting to photograph the same scene or object in many different lights, revealing different moods or characteristics of a subject.

Jack Wilhite moved to Chester in 1991 where the beauty of the Lake Almanor area inspired him to recreate some of nature’s beautiful trout and their habitat. He uses Tupelo wood and acrylic paints to create the fish and rocks and natural woods to complete the habitat.

Jack's carvings have been shown and sold in galleries in San Francisco, Vail, Colorado, Alaska, Cambria, Palm Springs and Chester. Of his on-going show in the Back Room Gallery he says, "I am very grateful to show my work along with the many fine artists who live in this area."

Sally Posner’s most recent show included landscapes of California, (most of them Plumas County locations) still-lifes, flowers, and plein aire sketches done on a recent trip to Hawaii. Sally and her husband, Rob, are long time residents of the Almanor area, and her work is inspired by the natural world around us. Sally’s work also includes the figure, animals and, because of her "day job" as a building designer, architectural subject. Please visit her at www.sallyposner.com.

Susan grew up in southern California with the lives of tens of thousands of people flowing in constant motion around her. Susan taught drawing and painting, ceramics, and crafts for fifteen years in Downey and then in San Diego for another seventeen.


Susan’s own artistic endeavors were of necessity carried out only in her head, too much to do, too little time, until 2002 when she retired. Now, in her own studio here at Lake Almanor, she is free to reclaim her personal journey as an artist.

"My roots are in the New Realist movement of the 70's and 80's, but age and awareness, and living in this mercurial mountain wonderland urges me to explore a more mystical connection between human beings and their environment. I sense intuitively a rhythmic energy that permeates everything. There is some undefinable thing that runs through us and our physical world, uniting us with it, imparting a sense of wholeness and belonging. It is this mystery that I honor in my art."

Jan Cox enjoys working with two different Canon cameras. Her Canon S3IS is used for macro photography of flowers, plants, and insects, while her Canon 40 D SLR is used for distant photos and local scenery.

Jan began photographing in earnest when she retired from teaching in 2004 and has enjoyed showing her work in local venues including Art Around the Lake, The Back Room Gallery in Books & Beyond, and Plumas Arts in Quincy.

Asya Lesly grew up in Amarillo, Texas. Her grandmothers taught her to sew when she was three-years-old.She has been interested in fiber arts ever since, dabbling in weaving, knitting, crochet, cross stitch, latch hook, and more. Asya is often asked if she loved dolls as a kid, but she was a tomboy who preferred capturing insects.

After college, Asya moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where she worked as an occupational therapist. She bought a small farmhouse with a barn and tended a herd of goats. Later, she and her husband moved to Mineral, California,

Karin Urquhart, a resident of Lake Almanor and Marin County California, is an award winning artist specializing in oil and watercolor. She is featured in the Back Room Gallery at Books & Beyond in Chester; Plumas Arts Gallery in Quincy: Plumas County Museum in Quincy; Gallery One in Petaluma; at the Lassen County Arts Council Gallery in Susanville and the Marin Society of Artists Gallery in Ross.

Karin is a member of the Marin Arts Council and the Feather River Fine Arts Association at Lake Almanor. In addition, her works reside in many private collections in the United States and abroad.

Please visit her at www.expressionsbykarin.com

I've been told "a painting is the event; a photograph is a document of the event". Some of my images might be just what my camera saw; some images might be what my mind saw, striving to make them the event. At the end of the process, I hope my images will hold your interest.

Becky Compton moved to the Lake Almanor area in 1977 from West Virginia. She met and married her husband, reared a family, and taught in the Chester schools for thirty-two years. Always interested in drawing and painting, she took a variety of classes over the years, was active in the Northeastern Arts Project through Chico State, and eventually earned her art credential so that she could take over the high school art program. She retired in June of 2010 so that she would have time to focus more on her own art.

Jacqueline Cordova has a love for teaching art, and for creating in a wide variety of styles and media. Her work has moved from painting people in oils, to painting landscapes in oils, to painting both subjects in acrylic murals.

Because of student demand, Jacqueline has studied water color over the last six years, and has recently added to her talents the creation of fine Raku pots.

Barbara MacAthur's appreciation of art and her love of drawing began in early childhood. Studing art in college and at the John McCrady Art School in New Orleans, she worked with oils, then acrylics and water color. After lengthy travel in Europe and the U.S., Barbara entered two exhibits in New York City.

Much of Barbara's subject matter comes from the places she traveled to, as well as the people and landscapes around her. Living in Lake Almanor area has opened a whole new world to paint.

Please visit her at www.ricauarts.com.

Debbie is well know in the Lake Almanor area for her basketry and weaving classes. Her work is on display in galleries around the county and beyond.

"Basketry is who I am. It is the marrow in my bones. It connects me to the Earth and its elements. It's a spiritual event. From the gathering, constructing, sharing, and teaching, it is what I do and who I am.

Please visit her at www.heartofalmanor.com.

Sylvia grew up in Southern California and began her love painting at an early age. After over 20 years of painting in oils, she changed to watercolors because she admired their glow and transparency.

Many of Sylvia's paintings feature birds, wildlife and local landscapes. "My love of the outdoors provides a never ending source of ideas for new work. I paint what is interesting and exciting to me. Shadows, colors, and patterns...capture my attention. The painting should demonstrate what you feel about a subject. The light, colors, texture...if I can capture that...the painting is a success."

Please visit her at www.h2ocolor4u.blogspot.com