Our Instructors
Yvette Contois
The Art Factory founder & Studio Art Instructor
Yvette grew up in historic Chester County, Pennsylvania, and began her formal art training in illustration and watercolor painting in the 1980s. Inspired by the local legends Andrew, N.C. and Jamie Wyeth, she continued to develop her eye and hand to capture the beauty and intrigue in everyday life. Yvette began exhibiting her work in juried venues in the mid-1980s while attending Moore College of Art on a sculpture scholarship. During this time, she expanded on abstract processes and metaphorical representations. While earning a degree in Visual Communications at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, Yvette participated annually in the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Annual, where she exhibited life drawings, paintings and photography. After completing her BFA at Rosemont College in 1994, Yvette began her career in Santa Cruz as a graphic designer and art teacher. The Art Factory is her passionate effort to develop a space to bring art and the creative process into the lives of students of all ages in Santa Cruz.
Janice Bridgman
Printmaking Instructor
Janice Bridgman is a native Californian and has lived in Aptos for 37
years. She earned her Masters degree in Studio Practice with a
specialty in Printmaking from San Jose State University in 1992. For twenty years she served
UC Santa Cruz’s Art Department as the print studio manager, technical advisor and
printmaking lecturer. She has shown in national and regional juried exhibits, Santa Cruz Open Studios
and her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Art, Santa Cruz County. She brings The Art Factory both a profound technical expertise and a love of working with young people to pass on the printmaking skills and traditions she has acquired over a lifetime of experience.
Matt Farrar
Painting Instructor
Matt Farrar is a classically trained painter and graphic designer with
a Bachelors in Fine Art from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle,
Washington, and a Graduate Degree in Scientific Illustration from UC
Santa Cruz. Matt has shown his works professionally since 1995. As a
life-long architecture enthusiast, much of his subject matter is of
structures, or the materials used within, then posed as structural
elements that stand alone in his pieces. Process and reinvention drive
his work and his teaching style, a playful approach to art making that
inspires the viewing public and his students.
www.mattfarrar.net
www.ignitiondesigns.net
Ruby Jean Geisler
Studio Assistant
Ruby’s art originates from a fascination with memory and real and
imagined landscapes, as well as from a love of organic textures, color
and repetition. A printmaker specializing in Lithography and Relief
printing techniques, she has a great appreciation for process-oriented
mediums that combine fine art and craft. Ruby enjoys painting,
drawing, ceramics, jewelry making and bookmaking and is generally
enthused by any hands-on project. Her work has been shown in
individual group, and juried exhibitions around Santa Cruz. She
received her Bachelors in Fine Art from UC Santa Cruz in 2007 and
worked as an assistant teacher in the Cabrillo Arts 2008 workshop
series. Ruby is currently attending The California School of
Professional Fabric Design in Berkeley to pursue a career as a textile
and surface pattern specialist. Having worked closely with children
for years, Ruby hopes to pass along her love of creative exploration
to her students.
Karen Robey
Paper Collage Instructor
Karen Robey possesses a lifetime of broad exposure to and
understanding of the visual arts, music and the business
profession. She has worked with many artists and taught in museums and
schools. Karen’s artwork includes fine crafts (pottery, jewelry, cloth
dolls, bead making), and fine art (acrylic painting, drawing, and
collage). A participant in Santa Cruz’s Open Studios, Karen has had
her artwork featured in many galleries, festivals, shops and
businesses, which reflects her philosophy of seeing art as an
extension of community attitude. Karen is a self-taught artist, with a Bachelors degree
in Music and California teaching credentials in multiple subjects including music.
www.artists.com/artists/karen_robey/
Dr. Peter Weiss
“The Singing Scientist”
What do you get when you cross a mercury pollution Ph.D. research
scientist, a father, and a folk rocker/activist? Why, the Singing
Scientist, of course! A chemistry researcher at UC Santa Cruz, writer
and performer of children¢s music and a science teacher, Dr. Peter
Weiss created the Singing Scientist in 2005 while working at the
University of Washington in Seattle, where he served as a faculty
researcher in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Department. In
2006, after moving to Santa Cruz, Peter started bringing his
music/science message to elementary school children. With his band the
Earth Rangers, “Dr. Pete” has performed at several Santa Cruz
County schools, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Strawberry Music
Festival. His students will explore science, discovery, reason and
creativity through hands-on, safe experiments in Chemistry, Physics,
Biology and Ecology, combined with music and culinary crafts from the
solar oven.
