Post Office Box 4631
Walnut Creek, CA 94596  USA

2020 National Gold Medal Award:
Dongfeng Li
A Touch of Misty Tibetan Plateau

2019 National Gold Medal Award:
Dean Mitchell 
Modern Day Settlers

 

2018 National Gold Medal Award:
Geoffrey McCormick 
Learning to Walk in My Own Shadow 9

Glass on Glass on Fabric

Who We Are

The California Watercolor Association is a prominent watermedia organization.  CWA’s mission is to create, foster, and sustain artistic growth and interest in watermedia.  These goals are accomplished through our community outreach programs, workshops, public exhibitions, and student activities.  CWA members include professional and non-professional artists, teachers, and students with a compelling interest in painting.

CWA is a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Federal Tax ID 51-0142997).

History

Organized in 1967 under the name East Bay Watercolor Society, the group incorporated in 1975 as a non-profit organization. The name changed in 1996 to the California Watercolor Association. Today the tradition to meet, share and learn from other artists continues, as CWA brings opportunities and support to its members.

You can download our Policies and Procedures and our Bylaws in PDF format. You will need a copy of Adobe Reader to read these files. You can download a copy of Adobe Reader for free from the Adobe Website.

CWA Scholarship for the Arts 2020

The California Watercolor Association (CWA) will award a $1000 scholarship for a college art major. This scholarship is designed to help students starting a college education in art with an emphasis in watercolor media. The award will be given upon documentation of enrollment in a college.

The scholarship will be presented May 20, 2020, at the regular CWA May general meeting and have his/her art featured on display during the May general meeting. Application.

CWA Scholarship for the Arts 2020


Outreach

CWA has an active community outreach program. Programs include county fair student art show awards, art programs at local Veterans Affairs facilities and watermedia presentations  in local schools.
Click here for Community Outreach information..

Volunteers

CWA is a volunteer organization. The volunteers are people with many interests and skills, including art, teaching, business and technology, writing, organization and hospitality. A CWA volunteer may receive paintings for a show, bring cookies or host our video library at a general meeting, work on our website, or help a veteran experience watermedia. Click here for volunteering opportunities and reward information.

2017 National Gold Medal Award Winner, Laurie Goldstein Warren, Glass on Glass on Fabric

  


2016 National Gold Medal Award Winner, Georganne Zaro-Eddy, Island of Brac

2015 National Gold Medal Award Winner, Xiao Xing-Hu, Looking Attentively


   

Exhibitions

CWA holds several member shows annually, at various Bay Area venues. We also sponsor an annual National Exhibition, which is open to all watermedia artists.   All shows are juried by nationally known artists and attract a large viewing public.  Click here for Shows / Exhibitions information.  

Newsletter

An informative newsletter is published each month to keep members informed about workshops and future shows, tips and new sources for art supplies, information concerning guest speakers and demonstrators, and current activities of members. A PDF file of this newsletter is emailed to members. Recent issues are available on our website.

Video Library

There is an extensive video library representing varied watermedia techniques by many well-known artists that is continually updated and available free to all members at the general meetings.
Click here for current video list.

YouTube Channel

Visit the California Watercolor Association YouTube Channel, which contains recordings of past watercolor demos.