This is part of a series on small businesses in San Francisco.
San Francisco Women Artists at 647 Irving St. in the Sunset, is close enough to the commotion of the busy street that you will feel the Muni practically shake the ground each time it rolls by, but hidden enough that only 20 people may stop in each day.
A legacy business with origins dating back to 1887, when it was called the “Sketch Club,” its members have long valued sharing art. Back then, the organization included women who “met regularly to share and critique each other’s work,” their Legacy Business application indicates.
Now, they’re turning to innovative monthly show themes like August’s “The American Gaze” to ask contemporary questions in a historic gallery.
Gallery Director Janice Rumbaugh hopes the upcoming show opening on August 5 will put into question “Who are we as Americans? What do we perceive?” Though the gallery is nonpolitical, it’s undeniable that there “is a whole world happening outside of us,” and people have opinions, Rumbaugh said.
Artists are invited to submit pieces to “The American Gaze” by June 28 at 6 p.m. through this link.
While its long history has featured accomplished and often unrepresented artists, the gallery looks to donations and arts grants to keep going, a challenge even five years out of the pandemic.
Rumbaugh showed me an old photograph of Sketch Club members in Monterey, probably from the 1890s, sporting large sun bonnets and painting barefoot, their shoes thrown off to the side.
“This was an incredibly risqué activity to be doing,” she said about the women in the photograph, who were likely well-to-do, but also not permitted to be “out and about” without a male family member.
Ironically, since approximately 1915, SFWA has invited men to contribute and get involved with the gallery.
More were drawn into the group as members’ work began being displayed at museums and major art fairs.
By 1925, the Society of San Francisco Women Artists had branched off as a separate organization and in 1946, the cohort became San Francisco Women Artists, and six years later a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
As a nonprofit, the group makes most of their money from fundraising campaigns and grants, including the Grant for the Arts, from which they received $25,094 for 2025, and California Arts Council, from which they received $28,500 in 2022. They’ve also raised $420,000 in donations over the past decade, wrote Pam Borelli, the executive director.
Through a bequeathment, the group acquired a space at 3489 Sacramento St. in 2005. After that location closed in 2014 because the space was too small for the group’s needs, they reopened at their current, a leased location, on Irving Street in 2015.
“Art is a way to express joy, express frustrations, questions, and I think that’s incredibly important, not only all the time, but in a very contemporary way, and hopefully in a constructive and uplifting way,” she said.
Art from diverse artists lines the walls on June 4, 2025. Photo by Madera Longstreet-Lipson.
Some 12 percent of SFWA’s income comes from member fees, where accepted members pay a yearly fee of either $135 or $360. To apply, potential members submit an application with their website, or images of their work.
The group’s 147 members include students in art school and professional artists. The lower rate is offered to participants who can volunteer at least four hours a month at the gallery, while $360 is charged for those who cannot.
They also earn money from art sales — with the artists receiving 65 percent of each sale and the gallery taking the rest. In 2019, they made $60,000 in art sales. In 2024, that dropped to $54,000.
“We are very strong, but we are still noticing a negative aftermath,” she said referring to the pandemic.
Rumbaugh spoke about the “quietness that COVID forced on everyone” as a remaining challenge in generating foot traffic and thus interest in the space.
There’s still hope, though, as the community has a “strong spirit of continuance,” she said. Monthly exhibitions chosen by exhibitions director Suzane Beaubrun attract artists from the Bay Area. June’s show, “Pattern, Shape, and Form” includes the work of 35 to 40 artists, from canvas paintings, pottery, and jewelry.
An assortment of ceramics in the SFWA gallery on June 4, 2025. Photo by Madera Longstreet-Lipson.
SFWA sends out calls and email blasts for artists to submit work through Smarter Entry, which allows for online submission to artwork shows. From there, jurors and art consultants, chosen by the Gallery Director, determine which submissions will be included in the show.
“It’s really wonderful to see a body of work up,” Rumbaugh said. “You look at it, and you kind of see how the pieces talk to each other, like they have their own lives.”
Upcoming shows include “The Art of Play,” “The American Gaze,” and “Second Summer.”
While sales are challenging, SWFA continues to receive support from donors and grants. On May 28, 2025, Board of Supervisors for District 7 Member Myrna Melgar sent a letter to California Arts Council’s Grant Review Panel with “strong support” of an application submitted by San Francisco Women Artists’ for General Operating support grant.
The space is a “living legacy — an institution that serves as a cultural anchor for women artists, including artists of color, emerging talent, and those historically excluded from mainstream California Arts Council’s arts representation,” Melgar wrote.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
