About Jim

Jim Potterton is originally from New York, born in Brooklyn and raised on the South Shore of Long Island. As a boy he would wander for hours exploring the local woods and waterways. He reveled in the experience of adventure and discovery in the outdoors. Jim often entertained himself by drawing and doodling in his school notebooks. He attended schools that offered no formal art classes, so he just drew what he wanted for fun.

In his early thirties, he began a long career as a college labor studies and psychology professor at San Jose City College. He took advantage of the college’s art program and enrolled in art classes taught by several notable Bay Area artists including Joe Zirker, Eve Page-Mathias and Luis Gutierrez. From his downtown Santa Cruz studio Jim now produces work that has earned him a spot as a Santa Cruz Open Studios artist beginning in 2006 to the present. His work has won awards in major painting competitions in the San Francisco Bay Area and in New York City. In 2016 the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History purchased one of his works as part of an exhibit celebrating the geology of the Big Sur Coast. A recent piece of his public art features the endangered Santa Cruz Tarplant that grows in a meadow near his home in Santa Cruz.

Artist's Resume

Awards

  • University Art 13th Annual Open Competition, George Rivera, juror, First Place: Painting, 2021
  • Pacific Art League, 100th Anniversary Exhibition, George Rivera, juror, Honorable Mention 2021
  • “Works on Paper” Pacific Art League, Ric Ambrose, juror, Second Place, 2018
  • “Spoken and Unspoken” Santa Cruz Art League, T. Mike Walker juror, Third Place, 2018
  • “Abstraction” Pacific Art League, Chris Winfield juror, Honorable Mention, 2017
  • “Energy and Stillness” Abstracts, Santa Cruz Art League, Second Place, John Maxon, juror, 2017
  • “Your Landscape”, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Award of Merit, Suky Bryan, juror, 2016
  • Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Purchase Award, 2016
  • Annual Juried Painting Exhibition, Award of Merit, Salmagundi Club, New York City, 2014
  • 2010 University Art Open, Finalist, Rebecca Schapp, juror, 2010
  • 33rd Annual Juried Painting exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York City, First Place, Acrylics, 2010
  • Coastal Art League 25th Annual Juried Show, Alysanne McGaffey, juror, “Best in Show,” 2009
  • 31st Annual Juried Painting exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York City, First Place, Acrylics, 2008
  • 78th Annual Statewide Exhibit, Santa Cruz Art League, Jean Stern, juror, Third Place, 2008
  • California State Fair, acrylic painting, Scott Shields juror “Award of Merit,” 2007, 2008

Solo Exhibitions

  • “Seeing Feeling” Solo Art Exhibit, San Jose City College Art Gallery, 2013
  • “Sabbatical Paintings” One Person Show San Jose City College Art Gallery, February - March, 2005
  • Featured Artist, Cultural Council Offices of Santa Cruz County, 2010

Public Art

  • “Art in the Time of Covid” Monterey County Health Dept. Building, Salinas CA, 2021
  • “Water and its Ways” San Lorenzo Valley Museum - Santa Cruz Government Center 2020
  • “Celebrating Monterey County” Monterey County Government Building, Salinas CA, 2016 - 2020
  • Santa Cruz County Government Center Public Art Exhibit, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
  • “Out of the Box” Public Art Commission, Santa Cruz County, 2013
  • Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History – Big Sur on the Edge permanent exhibit
  • Santa Cruz Public Library Public Art Exhibit 2015

Education

  • Ph.D. Confluent Education, University of California, Santa Barbara 1990
  • M.A. Psychology, Southern Illinois University 1981, B.A. Political Science, Webster College 1974

Art Education

Studied with the following San Jose City College Art faculty

  • Joe Zirker, Beginning and intermediate drawing 1982 - 84
  • Luis Gutierrez, Life drawing 1985
  • Eve Page-Mathias, Directed studies in painting 2003 – 2004

Juried Group Shows

  • “The Color of Water” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Lori Austin juror, March 2023
  • “Details” Water Works Art Museum, Miles City UT, Jerry Fischer juror, January 2023
  • “Abstract- 2022” Sebastopol Center for the Arts Mark Perlman juror July 2022
  • “All Mixed Up” Santa Cruz Mountain Arts Center Mixed Media Invitational 2021
  • Annual Juried Members Exhibit Salmagundi Galley May 2021
  • “Photowork” 2021: 34th Annual National Juried Photography Exhibition Barrett Art Center Poughkeepsie NY, Audrey Sands, Juror
  • “90th Annual Statewide Landscape Exhibition” Santa Cruz Art League, Warren Chang, juror 2020
  • “Our Bounty” Pajaro Valley Arts Invitational Plein Air show, Watsonville, CA 2019
  • “Centennial Show “Salmagundi Club of New York, 2018
  • “Boundaries and Balance” Annual Juried Exhibit, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA, 2018
  • 25th Annual Juried Exhibition, International Society of Experimental Artists, Bethlehem, PA, 2016
  • 86th Annual California Land and Sea Exhibit, Santa Cruz Art League, David Gallup, juror, 2016
  • Abstraction, Pacific Art League, Leah Lubin juror, 2016
  • Degrees of Abstraction, Santa Cruz Art League, Tobin Keller, juror, 2014
  • Annual Juried Photography and Graphics Exhibition Salmagundi Club, New York City, 2014
  • Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Fall National Photography Exhibit, Jessica Brier, juror, 2013
  • Triton Museum, Statewide Painting Competition, Preston Metcalf, juror, 2011
  • Works on Paper, Santa Cruz Art League, Preston Metcalf, juror, 2011
  • 2010 Bay Area Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Betti-Sue Hertz, juror, 2010
  • Featured Artist, Cultural Council Offices of Santa Cruz County, 2010
  • “Landscape Painters of California”, Santa Cruz Art League, Richard Mayhew, juror, 2010
  • Los Gatos Art Association, Open Juried Show, Marcia Burtt, juror, 2010
  • “The Land Meets the Sea” Santa Cruz County Bank Arts Collaborative, October, 2009
  • Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, 5th Annual National Exhibition, Phillip Linhares, juror, 2009
  • International Society of Acrylic Painters 12th Annual Exhibition, Charles Harrington, juror, 2009
  • ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA 2009 National Juried Exhibition, Suzanne Tan and John Toki, jurors
  • 32nd Annual Juried Painting exhibition, Salmagundi Art Club, New York City, 2009
  • “Landscape Painters of California”, Santa Cruz Art League, Kevin MacPherson, juror, 2009
  • Los Gatos Art Association, Open Juried Show, Randall Sexton, juror, 2009
  • 2008 Bay Area Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Maria Medua, juror, 2008
  • Visual Politics: Art & the American Experience, Santa Cruz Art League, Peter Selz, juror, 2008
  • Los Gatos Art Association Open Juried Show, George Rivera, juror, April 2008
  • Triton Museum, Statewide Painting Competition, Dominic Cretara, juror, 2008
  • Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, 4th Annual National Exhibition, Chester Arnold, juror, 2007
  • “Cool Waters” Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, Lloyd Turner, juror, 2007
  • “Revisiting the Romance of the California Landscape”- Santa Cruz Art League 77th Statewide exhibit, 2007
  • “Recent Work” Many Hands Gallery, Capitola, CA, May – June 2007, July – August 2008, Nov –Dec 2011
  • Los Gatos Art Association Open Juried show, Marian Parmenter, juror, 2007
  • Open Studios© Artist., Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, 2006 through 2015
  • “The Art of Painting” National Show, George Rivera, juror, Santa Cruz Art League, 2006
  • “Abstractly Yours” Barbara Weigel and Beth Shields jurors, Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, 2006

Jim is a member of the Santa Cruz Visual Arts Network please visit his page:

View Jim's Arts Council Page


SOPA Art Space - Santa Cruz, California

All artwork on this website is owned by Jim Potterton and may not be used or copied without his permission. © 2023
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