Blog
Celebrating 20 years in april
April 25th, 2026 Bell Arts Factory will be celebrating 20 years. From 12pm-4pm, join us as we continue to push forward in making Ventura, California a haven for great artists and creative spirits from every walk of life. We’re proud to be a partner and friend to all artists around!I grew up along side with Bell Arts Factory. I was six years old when its doors opened to the community on the Avenue. I took many different classes here. This place taught me the importance of art as an outlet and gave me and my friends a space to create and play. Wether it was during the year or summer vacation I loved coming here for classes. I now have had the honor of being an art teacher with the kid's Spanish art program for over a year; it has been such an experience seeing how children still find BAF as a safe place to come and create. I see these kids make friends and come every week, always looking forward to class and excited to learn something new or continue practicing various mediums. Maribel Hernández and Michelle Foster have been incredibly dedicated to their children's art programs. Both were my art teachers and it's inspiring seeing their hard work continue to flourish. We have a few artists that have resided here since day one, and it's been a joy to be many people's landing spot on their journey with a career in the arts. Returning to BAF as an artist with a studio and working with Maribel is a joy that feels like a full circle moment. Twenty years later I'm sure that this place set me up for a love of creativity and the desire to uplift my community here on the Avenue. I hope BAF continues to succeed in being an inviting space for all on the Avenue and Ventura County.
- Celeste Addison
Photos from 2007. Featuring Maribel Hernández and Celeste Addison
No more plastic! April's First Friday focused on recycling art through upcycling fabric into tote bags. We collaborated with various artists to display a variety of tote bags. In anticipation for our 20 anniversary we also sold "I 
Bell Arts Factory" shirts, an homage to t-shirts we sold in our first years as a non profit starting in 2006. These t-shirts ($25) will be available at our anniversary party April 25th, from 12-4pm.
A testimony from a BAF volunteer, Lika Walker:
I first wandered into Bell Arts much the same way I’ve found most of my favorite spaces—by simply following curiosity. It was a First Friday event on the Avenue and I was drawn in by the artist studios. I was practicing my Spanish with Maribel when she extended an invitation to join her for a Wednesday art class for the community kids. Her voice was warm and encouraging, “Es solamente en español."
16 months later, todavía estoy aquí, still learning, still in awe.
I’ve lived in West Ventura for nearly 10 years now and am always looking for ways to give back to the community that has given me so much. In these uncertain times, I especially wanted to be a familiar, trusted face for the kids in our neighborhood. And as a bonus I would be able to brush up on mi español. But what started as an effort to give back has turned into something far greater. These Wednesdays have become a space where art and language blend, where stories unfold in collages and clay molds, where talent bursts forth in ways that continually surprise me.
Maribel has spent decades nurturing this space, offering a room filled with color, creativity, and, most of all, comfort. For many of the kids, Bell Arts is more than an after-school program—it’s a sanctuary. A place where they can create freely, where their native language isn’t just spoken but celebrated. Where, with time and guidance, art transforms into something more—an opportunity.
I saw it firsthand with Lucero. It started with an idea—a small sewing kit. We worked through the process together, from the first stitch to the final display. When someone purchased her kit at a First Friday event, I showed her the photo of the woman who bought it. Her face lit up in a way that made my heart catch. The name Lucero derives from the Spanish word luz which means “light”. In that moment, she was absolutely glowing.
Then there’s Angela, a young artist whose jewelry and pottery booth I frequent—not out of obligation, but because I genuinely love her work. She’s been coming to Bell Arts for many years, learning her craft under Maribel’s guidance. What started as a childhood passion has evolved into something more—something tangible. A business. A future.
And Bell Arts isn’t just a space for the kids. I’ve loved watching parents participate. While definitely an option for busy moms and dads to drop their kids off, they often stay; they help, they create alongside them. There’s an unspoken understanding that art isn’t just about making something beautiful—it’s about connection. Familia. The invisible threads that weave us together, stronger with each brushstroke, each bead, each shared moment of creation.
I came to Bell Arts, thinking I’d be a mentor. And hopefully, in some ways, I am. But every Wednesday, I walk away having learned just as much as I’ve given—about language, about art, about community. About the quiet magic that happens...cuando las personas se unen para crear.
March 2026 BAF celebrating Women's History Month! We featured female artists from our BAF community as well as talented artists from the Ventura art scene.
In February 2026, with the generosity of Brian Wright Sr. BAF exhibiting the remaining works of the late gauvin. gauvin's mixed media art, poetry and performances were groundbreaking and revived the local art scene on Ventura Ave. His arts lives on with those were able to purchase his remaining pieces. We are honored to have the opportunity to exhibit his art and celebrate Black History Month.
Dec. 5th BAF hosted our final First Friday of 2025!
In Si Tu: Mixed Media, a show that was created by members of the community and our students from the kids Spanish art program. The group Ballet Folklórico Cielito Lindo performed and celebrated Colombian heritage.
We honored our ancestors and loved ones on Día de Los Muertos Nov. 1 & 2 2025. Our community gathered and celebrated together. Thank you to VC Plant Swap, live music by The Crystal Tears and dancers from Resistencia Mexicayotl Chalchiuhtlicue, and vendors. It was a weekend of sharing our art and stories with each other.
First Friday February 7th 2025 we celebrated Black History Month and honored the life and art of Warren Lee Gauvin.
Photo by Cole Smothers
ArtWalk 2010
Warren Lee Gauvin (gauvin) was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He was raised by a young single mother, and then by his maternal grandmother in Detroit, MI. A gifted child who grew into a multi-talented artist. In the late 1980s a search for his long absent father brought him west to San Francisco, then on to Los Angeles. In the early 1990s gauvin arrived in Ventura and made it his home.
gauvin’s poetry, performance and mixed media art was distinct, groundbreaking and incredibly personal. During the two decades that gauvin resided in Ventura, he created a cultural legacy that demands to be remembered and revered. His presence changed the face of the artistic community in Ventura. His words and imagery are gifts he bestowed upon us with grace and ferocity. His art lives on in the lives of all who knew him.
Youtube Recap of the Cranes Project!