The California Fine Arts School (now the San Francisco Art Institute) was founded on the heels of the Gold Rush era. It has a history of over 125 years as a magnet for artists and educators pursuing experimentation and innovative art forms.

During the 1930s, the residency of Diego Rivera prompted New York critics to proclaim the California School of Fine Arts (now the SFAI) as being on the "cutting edge" of modern art.

Varda taught CFAS from 1946-1954, when Douglas McAgey was the director. During the 1940s West Coast abstract expressionism was being developed by a painters at CSFA that included Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Hassel Smith, and Frank Lobdell.

In the same decade, the renowned photographer Ansel Adams founded the nation's first fine arts photography department at the school with faculty members Minor White, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and Lisette Model. Imogen Cunningham photographed Varda. Varda was friends with Edward Weston and his model/life partner Charis Wilson.

In the 1950s and 60s, the Art Institute was the center of the figurative, beat, and funk movements that included Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Nathan Oliveira, Joan Brown, Jay De Feo, Elmer Bischoff, Jess, Bruce Conner, and James Weeks.

In the 1970s and 80s, the San Francisco Art Institute was a leader in the development of conceptual art, new genres, film and video work created by George Kuchar, Ernie Gehr, Tony Labat, John Roloff, Karen Finley, David Ireland, Paul Kos, and many more.

The San Francisco Art Institute continues to nurture future generations of young artists who will become the visionaries of the next millennium.