Your creative retreat since 2009
What We Do
We are an all-ages art studio located in Aptos, CA and now virtually around the world! We offer online and
small, in-person, outdoor groups. In-person classes are organized at the directors discretion and posted as available. Our classes are held in a positive, non-competitive environment.
Art Factory instructors bring cross curricular experience to art education, using art as a medium to explore everything from history to mathematics to science. With an emphasis on art history, technique and creative expression, students will develop or expand their art practice. Use our classes to enrich your child’s education or for your own creative retreat.
©2023 Art Factory
Staff
Yvette Contois; Founder/Director and Art Instructor
With an early love for Art and Art Education, Yvette began her formal education in Philadelphia, starting as a high school student attending Moore College of Art. She went on to receive her Degree in Visual Communications & Graphic Design at The Art Institute of Philadelphia and soon after, received her BFA & K-12 Art Teaching Certification from Rosemont College, PA.
Yvette has been giving art lessons to adults & children since 1990. Her guiding passion is bringing art into the lives of her students and building strong creative teams in the workplace.
The Art Factory has been Yvette’s creative vision, long before it opened in the Spring of 2009. She enjoys the studio’s continual growth and looks forward to the future expansion of its programs, to serve more of our county’s youth, teen and adult community.
When not in the studio/classroom, Yvette continues her freelance career as a technical illustrator and commercial artist and creative team builder.
Danielle Lewis; Art Instructor
Danielle has graduated from Cabrillo Community College with three degrees in Studio Art, Liberal Arts and Science and Art History. She will be working towards getting her bachelors degree so she can become a high school art teacher. She has her photography in multiple books and has been selling her whimsical ceramic chickens in the gallery A Sense of Place in Fresno. She has always had a passion to learn about art and art history and loves sharing her knowledge with others. “I love that moment when I see a child's face light up when they see their creation come to life.”
Jason Matthews; 3D Animation & Cartooning Instructor
Jason is a self-taught character artist with an academic background in Studio Art. His experience includes a broad variety of creative formats, including caricature art, graphic design, and photography. He continues to hone his skills and expand his portfolio while pursuing a career in the animation industry. In the meantime, he enjoys guiding our aspiring young artists through the luminous world of drawing and illustration. He recognizes the potential of a healthy imagination and the importance of artistic freedom, and he emphatically weaves these ideologies into his teachings. You can see more of his work here: https://jason-n-matthews.com/
Because community matters... here at the Art Factory we feel the ripple effect of deep community connections. We believe in the goodness that grows as we join forces to strengthen our neighborhoods, beaches, schools and communities.
Learn more about the Live Like Coco Foundation. A cause near and dear to our creative hearts, and Santa Cruz County's County Park Friends, an organization who we love to develop and deliver content for.
Thank you for donating books to our free little library in the Polo Grounds Park, for recycling pens and markers through our Terracycle box, for joining us on beach clean-ups organized by Live Like Coco and for contributing to our scholarship fund which allows students to participate in weekly after school art classes.
We have donated more than 200 art classes to local school fundraisers since 2009.
Upcoming projects to be excited about:
Children's Reading Garden at the new Aptos Library