Just off of Audubon street, Isabelle Meachen was busy at the front desk of Creative Arts Workshop (CAW), chatting with a printmaking student before pausing to answer a phone call. In the office behind her, Interim Director Jennifer Simpson and Deputy Director Astrid Bernard leaned in toward a computer screen, deep in a meeting. Meachen, juggling tasks as she spoke, seemed to handle it all with grace.
Meachen is a visitor services oassistant at CAW, an all-ages, multigenerational hub and incubator for visual and multimedia arts education at 90 Audubon St. In a recent interview, she chatted eagerly about her experience at the organization, in what became a portrait of a New Havener midway through her work day.
“It was my first real job and I was blessed to have that opportunity,” Meachen said of working at CAW.
It's kept her coming back for several years. Meachen grew up in the East Shore neighborhood of New Haven, attending Nathan Hale School for elementary and middle school, and then Wilbur Cross High School as she got older. At the time, she thought of artmaking as more of a hobby than a professional calling, so much so that she referred to herself as only “kind of” an artist. She enjoyed drawing and watercolor painting, but never thought of it as a career.
That is, until CAW entered the picture. Her senior year at Cross, Meachen volunteered at the organization to complete a service requirement, stepping in as a teaching assistant. She loved it so much that the following summer, she returned, and then returned again, picking up paid work along the way. By then, she was a student at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), where she is still enrolled. There, she developed an interest in watercolor, drawing, and etching, for which she uses a plastic plate and the printing press at SCSU.
When asked what the hardest part of her job is, she said that it is being able to manage everything at once. Because she works at the front desk, she has to multitask constantly. Sometimes, she’ll be mid-conversation with someone in the building or helping a student artist, and will have to pause to answer a phone call, look up a class, or hop on an administrative task.
“If you have ADHD, this is the perfect job for you,” she said with a smile.
Her favorite part of her job, meanwhile, is being able to give back to the community that raised her. She credited her teachers, as well as CAW’s leadership team, with helping her get settled in the job and treating her with respect and understanding. The job’s flexibility helps, she added: her colleagues understand that she’s in college, and help her work around her schedule.
“What can I say about Isabelle?” Simpson said in an email Tuesday afternoon. “She is an absolute superstar and an invaluable part of our organization. Since stepping into the director role in November, I’ve often said that I’m putting my faith in young people — and Isabelle is a perfect example of why. Alongside Miles [Ashe], she essentially keeps our visitor services operation running throughout most of the week, while another young staff member manages our social media presence.”
“Their professionalism, creativity, reliability, and initiative have been extraordinary," Simpson continued. "Without this small but incredibly capable team, many of the day-to-day operations that keep Creative Arts Workshop moving simply would not happen. I am deeply grateful for their energy, dedication, and belief in what we do.”
This article comes to the Arts Paper through New Haven Academy's junior internship program, through which juniors at the school spend three weeks with a host organization during the month of May. Kwasi Danso is interested in pursuing writing on the university level.