52 SPRING 2019
IN SESSION
For the undergrad in an art department,
the menu presents some savory bites to sharpen
a palate before diving into the deep dish of a
graduate degree. The total immersion of an MFA
program provides more depth and guidance,
cozily cloaked in the security of being a student.
Then it’s out of the cocoon of community and
into the cold, cruel world. How ideal it would
be to transition to a profession the way you
arrived, with freedom, mentors, fresh air—and
meals! The Headlands Center for the Arts in
California’s Marin County partners with the
California College of the Arts, Mills College,
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State
University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and
UC Davis to provide year-long fellowships where
graduates receive private studio time, public
presentation opportunities, participation in a
curated exhibition and peer-to-peer activities with
national, international and other local artists, all
in artist-refurbished, high, tin ceilinged, sun-suffused, old military structures—nourished by
a fabled Mess Hall. Woodshop, letterpress, and
an artist’s library are some of the many resources
in the long hallways of these historic buildings,
standing like sturdy stalwarts among the grassy
hills facing the San Francisco Bay.I met artist-in-residence Jenna Meacham in her
Headlands studio where she smiled about the
influence of her dad and grandfather, “hobby
photographers.” Starting with that emphasis as
an undergrad, she described embracing a more
disciplinary practice in graduate school where,
“I found myself really missing a community
and struggling to advance my art without
mentorship and peer critique.” Coincidentally,
she became fascinated with the culture of
human relationships, their expectations and
realities. “I found everything I was looking for in
my graduate program at SF State. The program
really helped focus my practice, giving medirection and purpose. Upon graduation, I was
lucky enough to receive the Headlands Graduate
Fellowship. I have studio space for a year and get
to be part of an amazing community. I also work
freelance as an art preparator and teach around
the Bay Area.”A study of the studio starts with two discarded
wedding dresses, shredded, then braided into
sculptures impaled on the wall like dreams
crushed and coiled. Plaster molds of open self-help
books, emblems of the “industry of relationships,”
are laid out like the ten commandments of
couple-ness. Experiments with electroplating, a
new process for Jenna, hang by the windows of
the Residency, clearly a place where artists have
a room with a view and a lot more. See Jenna’s
artwork on her website. —Gwynned Vitellohttp://www.jennameacham.com
http://www.headlands.orgA Good Headwind
The Headlands Center for the Arts
Above: The Commons at the Headlands Center for the Arts