Mendocino Art Center
45200 Little Lake Road, Mendocino, 707-973-5818. Open Wed-Sun 10 am – 5 pm.
The Mendocino Art Center was established on the grounds of the former Preston mansion, which was featured in the James Dean movie “East of Eden.” When the mansion burned to the ground in 1957, Art Center founder Bill Zacha acquired the entire park-like property with a $500 deposit. By 1959 the remaining carriage house had been converted to the nucleus of the Art Center, while other outbuildings and animal sheds became the first studios.
Today the Art Center campus boasts four art galleries, a gift shop, ten art workshop studios, a performing arts theatre and 12 apartments that house artists in residence, students and instructors.
A Brief History
Submitted by Nancy Freeze
The Mendocino Art Center (MAC) has served as a retreat for artists and students for over 40 years. It started as one man’s dream, and it blossomed into a world-renowned center for visual and performing arts.
During the early 50’s, the stark beauty of the region attracted artists like Bill and Jennie Zacha. When the Zacha’s arrived here, Mendocino was a failing mill town. In 1957, Bill Zacha began pursuing his dream of establishing an art center. When the Preston house (used as the mansion in East of Eden) burned down, he purchased the property. Within two years, Bill had converted the carriage house and outbuildings for use. The Art Center became a new focal point for the community, and it played a crucial role in the revitalization of the nearly abandoned town.
From the Art Center’s Website:
The Mendocino Art Center, overlooking the sea from the top of the headlands, has been a haven for professional artists and all levels of students since 1959.
Today the Art Center is still a retreat away from the stress and clamor of the workaday world, where the soul can breath, the imagination takes wing, creativity realizes itself—and new aquaintences turn into friendships. The Mendocino Art Center is an educational, exhibition, and resource center for the visual and preforming arts located 150 miles north of San Francisco in the quiet coastal village of Mendocino.
The Art Center has earned national and international reputations which attract an impressive selection of renowned faculty members, yet has remained small enough for productive dialogues between students and teachers, professional artists and beginners.
The facilities at the Mendocino Art Center include studios and classrooms for fine arts, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture, textiles and computer arts.
Four gallery spaces provide exhibition opportunities to emerging and established artists. Twelve apartments are available for instructors and artists in residence. The MAC gift shop features fine art by local artists and members and the Center’s Helen Schoeni Theatre is home to a thriving community theatre group.
The grounds are beautifully landscaped, primarily with native plants and the Zacha Sculpture Garden features not only sculpture but a lovely tiled courtyard surrounded by the art studios.
