At just over 40 years, AWS is the second oldest art group in Sonoma County, California. It attributes its longevity to the support, fellowship, and activities it provides its members.

Ten artists organized AWS in 1965 in Sebastopol, California. In 1968, the young group hung its first show, accompanied by a wine tasting, in the Veterans’ Building on High Street, Sebastopol.

Sebastopol was known for its apples, especially its Gravenstein variety. So important was the apple industry to the town, and so much a part of town life, that the town celebrated its beloved product with a weekend-long celebration each spring. In 1969, AWS became part of the Apple Blossom Festival with an Art Show, kicking it off with a reception on Friday evening. AWS continues hanging a members’ show in the Veterans’ Building each spring, starting with a reception, during the Apple Blossom Festival.

Only a few years later, AWS began taking part in the harvest end of the apple celebrations, the Gravenstein Apple Fair, traditionally held in August in Sebastopol’s Ragle Park, with AWS artists presenting an outdoor display and sale of their work. This tradition too continues.

In 2002, AWS inaugurated the Laguna School of Painters. Sponsored by AWS, this group, open to all, met weekly to paint the endangered wetlands of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, resulting in an art auction, to the benefit of the artists and the Wetlands Foundation.

In January 2004, AWS presented its first month-long members’ show, at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

Beginning in 2005, members of AWS show their work in Sebastopol Plaza on seven summer Thursday evenings, in conjunction with Sebastopol Center for the Arts’ Concerts in the Plaza series.

What Is AWS?

The Art Workshop of Western Sonoma County is an organization of working artists. Members may be professional or not, but they must be actively making art. AWS’s purpose is fellowship and a network for Western Sonoma County artists achieved through monthly programs and several workshops a year through which members can broaden and improve their skills.

AWS provides venues for its members to show their work to the public as well as within the organization. For two years, AWS joined with the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation to present paintings of the Laguna. One year, AWS is presented a month-long members’ show at, and at the invitation of, the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Other activities are trips to museums and art shows and informal plein air paint outs.

In recent years, AWS has sponsored intensive workshops of up to three days. Among presenters are well-known artists Elin Pendleton, Gil Dellinger, Eleanor Dickinson, and Armand Cabrera. Member artists have also given workshops.

Governance

AWS is a nonprofit organization governed by a constitution. A board of six elected officers and numerous appointed and volunteer committee chairs guides the organization. The 2010 officers of AWS are listed on our contact page.