West Valley Art Museum was established in 1976 as a satellite museum of the Phoenix Art Museum. In 1980 the Museum was funded and built entirely by Sun City retirees and became a mortgage free entity amicably separated from the Phoenix Art Museum. From 1984 to 1986 the Jensen Wing and solarium were added as part of phase II, creating the long narrow building that existed until 1994 when ground was broken for the last addition.

With that expansion and another land purchase, the Museum became a 17,000 square foot building located on five acres. The Museum's permanent collection contains about 4000 items including ethnic dress from more than 70 countries. The Museum also focuses on Arizona Art and Fine Prints.

The collection of prints includes fine art prints from ancient and contemporary Asian block prints, to contemporary American artists’ lithographs, woodcuts, serigraphs, etchings and monoprints. Artists in the collection include Peter Max, Andy Wahrol, Alexander Calder, and Arthur Secunda among others.

About 250 Arizona artists are featured yearly through over 30 rotating exhibits in nine gallery spaces. Our curators encourage quality emerging artists through short exhibitions located in one of four "mini" galleries. Our dedication to the encouragement of talented young artists sets our museum apart from other museums in our region.

The Museum teaches over 200 adults from November through May, and 600 children during our summer art classes. Through the year, we hold over 40 figure drawing classes, present over 40 humanities programs, hold about 30 jazz and music presentations, two art fairs, and various fund raisers. We have an active docent training program and our Museum has an experienced docent on duty every hour it is open to the public. We are located in one of the fastest growing regions in the country, Maricopa County, Arizona.