By Suki Wessling
Art Factory owner Yvette Contois, 52, stands at the entrance to her big, bright new studio in Aptos. She’s beaming.
“We love our memories of the first eleven years in our little art cottage, and now we’re truly grateful to be starting the next chapter: Art Factory 3.0 in its new home,” she says. ”We couldn’t ask for a more fantastic space to celebrate our fifteenth year in Aptos!”
This reopening has been a long time coming. Yvette’s former onsite business, housed in a little fairytale cottage in the redwoods, was a pandemic casualty.
Even with everything going online, it was hard to leave the charming location, where she had offered art classes and parties since 2009, but she had already been dreaming about a bigger, more community-oriented space. In the meantime, she made the necessary changes to keep the business afloat. She offered online instruction as well as site-based instruction at schools and in parks.
As serious about business as she is about art, Yvette has been working with the Small Business Development Center since before the pandemic.
“Post-pandemic, she really felt like she needed a home like she had before,” explains Keith Holtaway, 76, lead advisor at the SBDC . “We spent some time looking at leases and locations and seeing which ones were going to work. And this one—it felt good. It smells like a studio, which is a nice smell. And it looks like a studio, like the studios I went to as a kid.”
Yvette is especially excited about the layout of the large, airy space. The former leaseholder, a furniture store, installed beautifully lit display cases on beams throughout the room, where staff and student work is already on display.
Margaret Machado, a 16-year-old junior at Aptos High who goes by Maggie, started classes at 6 and now works at the Art Factory. She is possibly its most enthusiastic booster.
“Art has so many real life applications,” Maggie explains. “Like philosophically, if you think about the way that art really works, it’s all about constant improvement, which can really apply to your life. Doing the Art Factory has helped me cultivate so many skills that have helped me out in my daily life, figuring out who I am as a person—especially in high school!”
Danielle Lewis, 26, has been teaching with Yvette since 2019, and she’s particularly excited that the space has room for a kiln and a dedicated space for ceramics.
“[Working with clay] is different from painting or other art skills just because there’s a lot of touch and motor skills that are involved in ceramics,” Danielle explains. “For little kids, it’s a lot of learning how to use your fingers and hands. For adults and older kids it’s more about technique and how you apply it.”
The Art Factory has scheduled weekly ceramics classes for youth and a Saturday drop-in time for aspiring ceramicists of all ages and skill levels. Yvette explained that the large size of the studio is allowing them to offer such a variety of classes, and pointed out that the fiber arts area is as far as possible from the dusty clay.
For Yvette, a working artist who has dedicated much of her career to training young people to value the arts, Art Factory Studios is proof positive of the value of perseverance. She’s glad that her new space will allow her to expand her business’s community involvement.
“Community building with regard to ecology, recycling, beach cleanups, literacy, and public art with student involvement has been a rich part of our history,” she points out. “We are partnered with Live Like Coco Foundation and PVUSD for both fundraising events and after school enrichment. We look forward to growing with other community partners as a part of our continued growth.”
But let’s give Art Factory booster Maggie Machado the last word. Lest you think that art classes are not important in this tech-oriented world, she wants to set you straight.
“It should definitely be STEAM, not STEM,” Maggie explains. “Art is so important. It can be self-expression, it can be a way to express your knowledge. It’s an integral skill to your life—everybody should know how to do art!”
For more information: Visit www.artfactorystudios.com or drop in during studio hours at Aptos Village Square, 7960 Soquel Drive.
Suki Wessling is a local writer, radio host, and teacher. Full disclosure: her kids took lessons from Yvette years ago and Suki adores The Art Factory! Check out Suki’s radio show, The Babblery, at www.Babblery.com and on KSQD.org.
