About
Chris Potter, 1974 – 2024.
A working painter who spent his life outside, in front of the Santa Barbara coast. He left behind a body of work, a community of fellow painters, and a wish that the practice keep reaching the next artist who needs it.
A plein air life.
Chris painted what he saw. Leadbetter Beach in the morning fog. The Gaviota bluffs in late light. Hendry's. Live Oak. The Mesa. He worked in oil, on location, directly from observation — the way painters before him had worked the same coast for a century, and the way he believed the coast was best understood.
His work hung at the Java Station and Live Oak Cafe in Santa Barbara, sold to collectors across the country, and circulated quietly through the kind of community that grows around a painter who shows up early and stays late. He was generous with other artists — with time, with a critique, with a panel he wasn't going to use — long before he ever talked about a foundation.
Why the Foundation exists.
Chris was diagnosed with a rare cancer (NUT carcinoma) and passed away on February 3rd, 2024. The Foundation was started at his request, by his family and a circle of close friends, to do for the next generation what he had been quietly doing for years: lower the wall between a serious artist and the next painting.
Practically, that looks like four programs — an annual scholarship with mentorship, materials grants, free plein air classes, and one-on-one consultations with established local painters. Every dollar we raise goes into one of those four buckets.
Who runs it.
The Foundation is led by Chris's family and a small board of close friends and fellow artists in Santa Barbara. We keep the staff costs near zero on purpose — the goal is to put as much of every gift as possible into an artist's hands.