The Place Where Art Happens - August 2022
enewsletter | August 2022
STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Sculpture: “Horse and Rider,” Maxine Kim Stussy. Photograph by Larry R Wagner.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of our monthly enewsletter, The Place Where Art Happens! Thank you to all who participated in our recent Community Listening Sessions, offering your valuable input on the future of the Mendocino Art Center.
The Mendocino Art Center is in the final stages of creating a new strategic plan for strengthening our community outreach and presence, and we are excited to be able to share it with you soon. MAC engaged Kay Sprinkel Grace, a skilled consultant, to meet with staff and the board of directors, and to engage our communities through community listening sessions, posing the following questions:
• What is the best purpose of a community art center?
• What programs, services, resources and opportunities would you like to see initiated or restored?
• What aspects of MAC do you hope will not be a part of MAC’s future?
• What values do you ascribe to MAC’s outreach, teaching, programming and community engagement and what role do those values play in your relationship with MAC?
• If you were to read an article about MAC 3-5 years from now in a local newspaper, what might the headline be about MAC and its accomplishments?
The responses from all groups were remarkably consistent, helping us in crafting our mission, purpose and vision statements and, ultimately, our organizational strategic plan. Stay tuned!
RENOWNED WOOD FIRE CERAMICS PROGRAM
Fused ceramics by Jake Murphy, Mark Jaeger and John Dix. Photography by Larry R Wagner.
The Mendocino Art Center is known worldwide for its wood fire ceramics program. Wood kilns are known for the dramatic transformations the clay undergoes during the firing, producing unique and often surprising works of art. It is a part of the culture of woodfiring to celebrate these transformations. Even if they result in pieces fused together, or with big open cracks, they reflect the collaborative and devotional spirit with which they were fired.
Over the summer we hosted many wood firing cohorts and workshops led by well-known ceramists such as John Dix who resides in Japan. Pictured here, we have two cups – one handbuilt by John Dix with clay dug here in Mendocino, the second by artist and high school teacher Mark Jaegar, both fused to a melting vase made by student Jake Murphy.
You can see part of the vase was buried by coals and partially insulated, the rest of the piece remained unburied and melted from the heat slowly engulfing the two cups sitting next to it in the kiln. This piece of art not only exemplifies the unexpected magic of the wood kiln, it also speaks to what the MAC community is all about. When people come together to work, learn, and make art, the results may be unexpected and can be better than any one person working alone. To have three generations of artists working in the same space is one of those truly special MAC experiences.
GALLERY STORE: WELCOMING NEW AND RETURNING VISITORS
Gallery Store Manager Joey Nicolaides behind the counter.
It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since the reopening of the Gallery Store, and so many of our friends are thrilled to be coming back to the Mendocino Art Center.
Some will tell of coming here as children and taking workshops with their families, others are old friends of the Zachas and still others are former students or Artists in Residence. The common thread is the deep attachment to our vibrant and resilient artistic home on Little Lake Street. Alice, a recent visitor remarked, “I feel like I’ve fallen into a whole world of beautiful things.”
With our unique lines of jewelry, ceramic art, one-of-a-kind selection of gift cards and whimsical glass art pieces we strive to seek a balance of work by emerging and familiar artists alike. In addition, we are presenting pop-up exhibits by notable artists in our Abramson Gallery.
If you haven’t been to see us in a while, we wish to extend an invitation. All are welcome; we look forward to seeing you.
The Gallery Store is open every day, 11am-4pm.
MEET OUR CO-DIRECTORS, DAPHNE & MARTIN
Co-Directors Daphne Haney and Martin Betz with a sculpture of Mendocino Art Center founder Bill Zacha, created by Miriam Rice.
Meet MAC's co-leadership team of Director of Arts & Education Martin Betz and Director of Finance and Administration Daphne Haney.
Martin Betz immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1964. He is the son of world-renowned scholar and philosopher Hans Dieter Betz, who brought his family to the US and established the Institute of Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate University and was head of the religion department at the University of Chicago.
Martin always had an interest in art and was involved in ceramics all the way through to college. After graduating from Cal State Fullerton, he went on to Claremont Graduate University and received his degree in experimental film and sculpture. In graduate school Martin became interested in exhibition design, installation, and performance event production which started a long career in museum work and concert production, culminating in the position of Senior Curator at the Long Beach Museum of Art. In the year 2002 he and his wife, artist and videographer Eszter Delgado, decided to move to Hawaii and establish a different life for what was now a young family of four. After five years in the islands as Director of the prestigious Art School, Hui No eau Visual Art Center, Martin was asked to come back to the mainland and start a cultural arts division with the City of Temecula. After creating a 35-employee strong arts division, completing the construction of a performing Arts Center, and the designation of Old Town Temecula as an arts district, he went on to work as the Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of Manhattan Beach.
Martin has a passion for motorsports and worked for the NHRA, and was part of stunt team and performance group, Artists Committed. Currently Martin collaborates with his wife as the arts collaborative Singletreearts.
Daphne Haney was born in Frankfurt, Germany, moving to the US before kindergarten. She is multi-lingual and graduated with a degree in Management from Loma Linda University. Since 1998 she has been the owner of Abacus Accounting, a full charge bookkeeping entity located on the Mendocino Coast. She has also worked in financial management for organizations such as California Closets, Rosenthal & Company, Old Gold and Riverside Medical Clinic. She is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor and also volunteers her time with local nonprofits such Mendocino Coast Clinics, Parents & Friends and Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
Daphne loves to travel and has an affinity for trying new foods at least once. She hopes her next trips will be New Zealand and Korea. Daphne has a soft spot for fashion shows, wine tasting and snorkeling in the Caribbean.