Initially known as the Sketch Club , SFWA was organized by independent women who met to share and critique each other 's work and to counter the all-male Bohemian Club . The Sketch Club met monthly to share and critique their work and to go on field trips . In 1887 , the group 's activities included lectures , semi-annual exhibits and weekly sketching trips to the East Bay summer trips to Aptos and Pacific Grove . The group also established a university art scholarship by 1887 . In 1894 , 28 members exhibited their artwork in the 1894 Mid-Winter Fair , held in the California Pavilion . During the 1906 earthquake , the group 's San Francisco headquarters were destroyed . During the early 1910s and 1920s , the group reorganized as the San Francisco Society of Art , and included men and women . By 1925 , the women of the Society had branched off as a separate entity , the Society of San Francisco Women Artists ( SSFWA ) . In 1926 , the Society of San Francisco Women Artists holds its first exhibition and its meetings are held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , which was at that time located on Van Ness Avenue . In 1931 , the SSFWA sponsors the first decorative native arts exhibit at the De Young Museum and in 1939 , it contributes to the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition . During the 1940s , the SSFWA works with the Red Cross to help rahbilitate World War II service men in hospitals
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Association of San Francisco Women Artists