California Art League (CAL) was founded on the belief that when individual artists join together in creating their destinies, their growth and impact are multiplied in their lives and throughout the world. With visual art exhibitions, ongoing education, and creative interaction, we empower artists to fulfill their highest potential. CAL welcomes all levels of artists to join us whether they are professionals or beginners. Painters, sculptors, photographers, and collage artists are welcome. All genres, including abstract modern art, traditional realism, portraits, still life, landscape, cityscape, wildlife, and everything in between are accepted.

California Art League was originally founded as The Valley Artists Guild (VAG) in 1948 by the sculptor Henry Van Wolf (1898–1982). Van Wolf had a vision of uniting the scattered artists in the San Fernando Valley area. He saw the need for a fine arts community, not as a personal money-making scheme, but as a way for artist members to become stronger. Through exhibitions, affordable educational workshops, and social events, the artist members of the VAG quickly flourished and grew in numbers. To promote our progress, we changed our name to the California Art League in 2012.

Now in the twenty-first century, artists continue to reflect their own poetic joys and interests through the California Art League, which now carries the torch of a flame lit long ago by people who knew art would always matter.