About the Mendocino Art Center

On Coastal Pomo land, improbable dreams take root.

Nearly 70 years ago, Bill and Lucia Zacha arrived in Mendocino to the fire-damaged remains of a once-grand estate and dared to dream. Together with neighbors and fellow artists, they transformed what was left behind into a thriving art center: a home for creative experimentation, a hub for community care, and a spark for renewal.

That dream didn’t stay theirs alone. It became ours.

From the start, MAC has been scrappy and daring—imagining possibility where others saw only disrepair. In Bill’s words: “I slid open a door to this shed and said, ‘this is going to be the gallery.’” His partner, Jennie Zacha, matched his vision with decades of steady, behind-the-scenes dedication—proof that this place has always been built not just by dreamers, but by those who ground the dream in care.

Today, MAC continues to embody the Zacha family’s ethos of interdependence and collective creativity. Our handmade campus of studios, galleries, and theater still hums with the same can-do spirit of rural Northern California—a spirit that makes improbable dreams possible.

Art here is more than the act of creation. It is the meal shared, the conversation sparked, the collaboration that sustains both artists and community.

Carrying the legacy forward.

Current MAC Staff

With new leadership, we are entering a new chapter. We envision MAC not only as a refuge for artists but as a regenerative force for the wider community. That means:

  • Welcoming those historically excluded from creative spaces.

  • Upholding social and ecological justice in our work.

  • Sharing skills for climate resilience and community care.

  • Caring for our campus—its buildings, tools, and studios—so they can serve artists for the next 70 years.

A time of change — and possibility.

In times of fracture, spaces like ours become havens—soil for connection, reciprocity, and courage, camaraderie. But to sustain and grow this vision, we need your support.

Through our Mutual Thriving Campaign, your gift does more than keep our doors open—it opens them wider. Wider to artists seeking refuge and renewal. Wider to neighbors longing for creative community. Wider to everyone who believes that art can transform how we live together.

Let’s keep dreaming improbable dreams—and building them—together.

Our shared future.

Mutual Thriving Campaign:

Donate

Coastal Pomo Land

The Mendocino Art Center resides on the unceded territory of the coastal 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.

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