Western Federation of Watercolor Societies

Western Federation of Watercolor Societies
The New Mexico Watercolor Society formed the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies (WFWS) some 30 years ago, through the foresight and work of Dr. David Gale (1915-1980). Today, the Federation includes over 4,500 artists in ten regional societies:

Arizona Watercolor Association
Colorado Watercolor Society
Nevada Watercolor Society
New Mexico Watercolor Society
San Diego Watercolor Society
Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild
Southwestern Watercolor Society
Utah Watercolor Society
Watercolor Society of Oregon
West Texas Watercolor Society

The Federation encourages and recognizes artistic excellence through annual exhibition. The yearly exhibition and delegates meeting is hosted by a regional member society on a rotating basis. Each society pays annual dues of $200 to the hosting society to help defray expenses of the show. Societies also use entry fees, fund raisers, solicitation of donations, grants, or a portion of their club monies to cover costs. The expenses for these exhibits include such items as fees for a nationally recognized artist to jury the show, awards for winners, publication of a catalog of accepted paintings, publicity, refreshments for the reception, etc.

UWS featured 14 paintings in the 2008 WFWS show.  Considering the number of entries, this is an especially notable achievement.  Congratulations to each of our members whose paintings were selected.  Enjoy the gallery below:

UWS entries in 2008 Show

Utah has four WFWS signature members: Laurel Hart, Jossy Lownes, Dottie Miles, and Steve Sheffield.

Signature status is obtained by participating in 4 WFWS exhibitions. Being accepted in WFWS also counts toward the UWS signature status requirement of being in eight Annual UWS Open exhibits.