About Us
Founded in 1921 in Laguna Beach, Women Painters West is a non-profit membership corporation with educational, benevolent, fraternal, and charitable objectives. Originally created under the name of The Woman's Art Club of Southern California, the organization saw two name changes before officially becoming Women Painters West in 1983.

Many of Women Painters West’s early members were among the great early California women artists including notables Mabel Alvarez, Kathryn Leighton, Elsie Palmer Payne and Donna Norine Schuster, whose works were featured in the Autry Museum of Western Heritage special exhibition Independent Spirits — Women Painters of the American West, 1890-1945.

In recent years, Women Painters West has been comprised of some 200 professional women artists working in all mediums committed to the practice of art. Women Painters West includes among its members art instructors in all levels of art education. Many members exhibit individually in galleries, museums, and universities and have been recognized and honored nationally and internationally. Membership is by application and juried selection.