Staff Spotlights

Every employee at Art Trek, Inc. has incredible talents and perspectives they bring to the classroom and in their daily lives, many of which we do not always have the opportunity to experience!

Our Staff Spotlights on our Instagram and Facebook pages have been a fantastic way for our staff to learn more about each other and further connect with our community.

Scroll below to see each collective we have published so far!

Crystal Castañeda

March 13th, 2026

Crystal Michelle Castañeda is a multi-talented artist, illustrator, surrealist painter, and Art Trek urban art educator based in Ventura County. She earned her Associates Degree in Studio Arts from Ventura College in 2019 and has exhibited her work at venues such as Bell Arts Factory, All Kinds Studio, Camp Familiar, Studio Channel Islands, and Open Door Studio.

Inspired by her late grandmother, art is a language that Crystal uses to express her thoughts, emotions, and stories. Whether it’s through personal experiences or humor, she strives to connect with her audience on a deep and meaningful level.

Crystal’s artwork invites viewers to contemplate life’s big questions while also providing a sense of escape and wonder.

Lexi Provencio

March 20th, 2026

Lexi Provencio is a multimedia artist, sculptor, and seamstress from Oxnard, California. She graduated in 2022 from California Lutheran University with a BA in Multimedia and has showcased her artwork in events at The Mystery Shop, Open Door Studio, and even a payphone located in Downtown Oxnard.

Lexi draws inspiration from the cartoons and animations that she enjoyed growing up as a foundation for her own sugary aesthetic. She uses a mixture of lightweight spackling, decoden cream glue, model magic clay, and acrylic paint to create sculptures and accessories modeled after sweets and confectionaries.

In Lexi’s work in fashion, sculpture, and design, sweets and desserts act as a metaphor for the “tasty” sugary sweet messages we are served in the media, easily digestible but ultimately detrimental. In Lexi’s words, “As ‘tasty’ as what we consume seems, this ‘sweet’ illusion will eventually rot and decay, and we must seek the truth of life.”

Maxine Lemuz

March 27th, 2026

Maxine Lemuz is a multimedia artist and musician from Oxnard, California. She graduated in 2023 from California State University, Northridge with her M.A. in Visual Arts. She has shown her work at CSUN’s Main Gallery, Open Door Studio, Studio Channel Islands, and local D.I.Y community art shows. In 2021, she was a Finalist for Best Experimental Film in the Student World Awards.

Through her experimental stop-motion animations, paintings, and sculptures, she explores textures, colors, and microcosms. Her playful painting process only reveals certain visual elements, leaving others to be uncovered through animation and close inspection.

Enamored by the pareidolic formations found in popcorn ceilings (perceiving patterns and faces in inanimate objects), Maxine is interested in the depth and movement within the textures in her paintings and sculptures.

Drawing inspiration from dreams, she seeks to create an otherworldly sensation in her stop-motion films and paintings. Using color, she captures a carnivalesque atmosphere that contrasts with vulnerable moments of solitude and self-reflection.

Mara Hales-Garcia

April 3rd, 2026

Mara Hales-Garcia is a painter, digital artist, muralist, and Art Trek educator based in Ventura County, California. She got her degree in Studio Art from CSU Channel Islands and has showcased her work in a multitude of galleries and installations such as Studio Channel Islands, Napa Hall Gallery, the Ventura Art Walk, and Open Door Studios.

Mara is inspired by the vibrant landscapes of Southern California. She depicts meditative nature scenes populated with native flora and fauna such as the purple lupin flowers, native to forests and coastal dunes, or the horned larks, lurking in the brush of the Santa Rosa Islands. Mara begins many of her paintings in the midst of nature, capturing her surroundings. Other pieces are cohesive compositions based off of her own nature photography.

“I create art that stems from the solace I find in the landscapes of Southern California which I call home. My greatest inspiration is the unity of people and nature, the familiarity of the plants and the animals, and reflecting on how we fit between it all.” - Mara

Throughout her journey, for her nature focused pieces and contributions to the art community, Mara has been awarded the D.A. Davidson Emerging College Artist Award at the 2024 Ventura Art Walk, and the Thomas and Patricia Dodds Award for Excellence at the 2025 Emergence art show.

Bobi Bosson

April 10th, 2026

Bobi Bosson is a mixed media artist, sculptor, serigrapher, and Art Trek educator based in Ventura County, California. She earned her BA in studio art from CSU Channel Islands, and her MFA in Studio art with an emphasis in printmaking from CSU Long Beach. Throughout her extensive art journey, she has showcased her art in countless installations in galleries across Southern California in Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Ventura County.

In her most recent art collection, “The Weight of...” Bobi was inspired by the manifestations of the maternal through physical, social, and psychological lenses. Through varied representations of the female form both as a caretaker and autonomous figure and the parallels she draws to nature, Bobi illustrates the feeling of living as a woman in a society that strives to control her. This exhibition is available to view at the CSUCI John Spoor Broome Gallery until July 31st.

As a mother, Bobi discovered the intentional and unintentional ways that her own child became involved in her artistic process: touching the fabric, painting the canvases and the walls, needing support during hours of focus. Therefore, interaction is baked into her pieces, as she invites viewers to touch her sculptures and explore the textures of her art.

For her thoughtful, multifaceted art showcases and many contributions to the greater Southern California art community, Bobi has been awarded many honors such as the 2021 Sam Francis Future Printmaking Award, the 2023 Richard Baker Endowment Scholarship, and the 2015 Certificate of Appreciation for mural restoration by Councilmember Mitchell Englander for the City of Los Angeles.

Mellie Lewis

April 17th, 2026

Mellie Lewis is an artist, illustrator, and Art Trek educator based in Ventura County, California. Their work has been prominently featured in many galleries and installations across Southern California, such as the SCIART gallery at CSU Channel Islands, California Creative Arts in Burbank, the Hillcrest Center for Arts, and the the City Halls of Santa Clarita and Ventura.

Mellie’s work is deeply rooted in the world of myth and legend. In their masterfully rendered paintings, they portray mythological beasts and icons from cultures all over the world, such as Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer from Greek Mythology, the Merrow from Irish folklore, and Saint George, the Christian icon. Before they even begin their composition, Mellie spends hours researching in order to accurately portray these timeless stories.

Mellie paints in layers to capture the depth and complexity of their mythological subjects. They use a watercolor underpainting to create a vibrant foundation. Then, they define their creatures with layers of marker, gouache, and colored pencils to dial in their fine details.

"The concept of larger than life creatures like dragons are what led me to pursuing illustration in the first place. Dragons became my favorite thing to draw when I was little and because they’re so globally known, I became interested in the different cultures and mythologies that each unique dragon came from. Over time, that developed into a fascination with the realm of fantasy and a desire to tell my own stories through my work." -Mellie