When the Fredericton Art Club was founded in 1936, it consisted of painters and others interested in art education whose purpose was to promote art in the community. A chief organizer of the art club was the late Mary Hashey who, until 2003, was an active member of FSA, lending enthusiasm and stability to the Group. The Fredericton Society of Artists (FSA) evolved from the Fredericton Art Club. The active painters in the Club had decided to form their own separate organization to realize more fully their painting interests. Marguerite McNair, President of Fredericton Art Club at that time, appointed Maxine Hughson as Chairperson of the organizing committee of FSA in the late fall of 1949. Maxine was nominated as its first President for 1950-51.

The original 12 in 1949 were Gwen Bailey, Marion Brown, Mary Estey, Inez Haines, Mary Hashey, Maxine Hughson, Helen Kinghorn, Evelyn Manuel, Hazel MacLeod, Marguerite McNair, Mary Miller, and Evelyn Wright.

The number of painters associated with FSA over the years is well over 300. Artists who have at some time been associated with the Fredericton Society of Artists include Muriel Bell, Doreen Boudreau, Norman and Della Cody, Marjory Donaldson, Gertrude Duffie, Tom Forrestall, Toby Graser, Heidi Grein, Catherine Karnes Munn, and Daniel Price.

Anne Power, in opening the 1991 FSA Spring Exhibit, spoke of the "specialness of the group" and then she posed the question: Is the artist "a person who creates in aloneness but seeks to share beauty with the world, one who has an intense desire for a heightened capacity to love and give of his/her talents to the world, one who seeks the companionship of a group with similar interests - one who reaches out to everyone through his/her work"? For many members of FSA, this is an apt description of an artist and the "specialness of a group" is typified by FSA.