About

Located on coastal Northern Pomo land, the Mendocino Art Center is a place for artists to retreat, gather, develop our crafts, and practice using our art to serve our communities.

A time of change

The Mendocino Art Center is entering a new chapter.

We have long been a space for artists to build community, share skills, and find a sense of grounding. As we enter a period of change, with new leadership, we seek to make this space more accessible to more people.

We seek to become a regenerative force for our community and visitors alike.

We commit to upholding social and ecological justice in our community; to build more shared community resources; to share skills for climate resilience and community care; and to welcome those who have been historically excluded.

To achieve this vision, we seek your support through our Regenerative Future Fund.

The MAC is in need of your financial support. Your contribution will not just help us keep our doors open, but to open them wider, creating more shared resources for us all. Please consider donating below.

The Regenerative Future Fund

We need your support—help us reach our goal by October 1, 2024.

A new chapter

The Mendocino Art Center is entering a new chapter. As we welcome a new Executive Director, many new board members, and some new staff, we seek to bring the MAC into a new era. We will continue to offer our traditional programming—art workshops, affordable artist lodging, events, exhibitions, a shop, and more—but we seek to make our center a more accessible and regenerative force for our community.

We invite you to take part. Visit our Regenerative Future Fund to learn more about our efforts, or to donate to the cause.

Northern Pomo Land

The Mendocino Art Center resides on the unceded territory of the Northern Pomo people. We recognize that the colonization of this land has caused great harm to Pomo people and other Indigenous peoples, and that the Mendocino Art Center has benefited from this harm. We seek to be better guests on this land, and are working to build better relationships with our Indigenous neighbors and Indigenous visitors from beyond this region.

  • We offer free lifetime membership to Indigenous folks —email education@mendocinoartcenter.org to sign up. We also invite you to reach out to us if there are resources that we can offer to you or members of your community, such as workshop fee waivers or use of the land our campus occupies.

Our campus

We are grateful to steward a cozy, welcoming campus in the village of Mendocino, three hours north of San Francisco. Our campus has small apartments for visiting artists, a gallery, shop, gardens, and a number of art studios, including an robust ceramics studio with electric, gas, and wood-fire kilns.

Our history

In 1959, with the help of many friends, artists, and townspeople, Bill and Jennie Zacha founded the Mendocino Art Center. The Zachas acquired the property, the site of a mansion that had burned down, with a $50 deposit. The remaining carriage house was converted to the nucleus of the art center, while other outbuildings and animal sheds became the first studios. During the ensuing years,the Mendocino Art Center became the focal point of a thriving art colony which revitalized the nearly abandoned town. 

A statement from our new Executive Director, Dav Bell

We are dedicated to artists whose truths are often eclipsed by the mainstream, whose foils include constructs other than whiteness, and whose stories are actively being written and difficult to tell. We believe that to create a more diverse, just, and equitable future, we must continually practice learning to listen while listening, and learning how to be supportive and accountable while being supportive and accountable.

We believe the places we work in, from gallery to classroom, act as dynamic spaces where art and language serve as navigational tools for translating ideas across diverse social classes, ages, and backgrounds.

There is an urgency to share and create platforms for nuanced and challenging stories about connection and equity. Art and healing are crucial on both micro and macro scales: in relationships, in communities, in systemic reform and transformative justice. While learning to be in relation to one another, a community, a movement, any shift, whether incremental or massive, can be excruciatingly painful for many. 

We believe art spaces are active environments where the legacies of the past, the sacrifices made, and the stories of those who came before us converge to create a space where norms are challenged, critiques are welcomed, and accountability is paramount. We believe this transformative work can be done while simultaneously fostering an environment that allows each individual to thrive and communities to form.

— Dav Bell
Executive Director, Mendocino Art Center