The renowned artist Chris Potter inspired countless people from around the world while painting colorful landscapes of the Santa Barbara coast. Now his name and vision will continue to do the same into perpetuity, as his favorite place to paint will forever be known as Potter’s Point.
In an unanimous vote on Tuesday, May 7, the Goleta City Council voted to affix that name to a prominent bluff on the Ellwood Mesa Open Space after the artist, who died suddenly on February 3. Located straight out from Santa Barbara Shores Drive, the place — framed by a eucalyptus grove, sporting downcoast views of Sands Beach and Coal Oil Point — is where Potter played as a child growing up in the Ellwood neighborhood, and it remained a preferred spot through his UCSB days and became the vantage point for many of his most beloved paintings.
“We haven’t done this before,” said Councilmember Stuart Kasdin of how this naming opportunity arose as an outside request rather than one generated within City Hall. He believes that the move will “benefit the place,” explaining, “He’s imbuing this location with special meaning.”