Courtney Potter Studio

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United States
Durham, NC
Courtney Potter Studio

I am an artist + art educator serving the Triangle (Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh NC) My abstract paintings are vibrant and emotive. I’d ove to tell your story!

Want stunning artwork that’s as colorful, spirited, and as untraditional as you are? Whether you need a bold abstract statement piece to transform your living room, are cravin’ some creative portraits, or are on the hunt for an experienced wedding photographer, you’ve come to the right place. My documentary-style photography approach is laid-back, candid, and captures the essence of your unique st

ory. I’m based in the Triangle (Raleigh — Durham — Chapel Hill) in North Carolina, but I ship paintings to all 50 states. Book me for a vibrant new painting, empowering portrait session, dynamic new headshots, or LGBTQ wedding.

01/28/2025

✨ Summer Art Camps Are Open for Registration! 🎨

🌈 Founded by a neurodivergent q***r artist, our camps are a safe, inclusive space for all kids to explore their creativity.

🖌️ Child-led creating is at the heart of our program, encouraging kids to discover and express their unique artistic voice.

👩‍🎨 Small classes, big attention! With at least 2 professional teaching artists per group, every child gets individualized support.

👧👦 Mixed-age groups mean siblings can attend together, and we celebrate inter-age friendships—watching littles and bigs collaborate is pure magic!

💡 Teens, we didn’t forget you! Check out our CIT (Counselor-in-Training) program for a hands-on leadership and creative experience.

🖼️ Camps are led by professional local artists who are passionate about inspiring a life-long love of the arts.

✨ Spaces fill fast—grab your spot today! ✨

📅 Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/2025artcamps or scan the QR code in the flyer.

09/17/2024

My next Art Mini Camp is this FRIDAY 9/20 and we’ll be celebrating the equinox through the art of the spiral! 🌀🌀🌀

Scan the QR Code in the flyer to learn more and register, or click on the link in the comments.

Here's a list of other camp themes and dates this fall:

Spectacular Spirals 🌀( 9/20, & 9/23)
Magical Mandalas 🌞 (9/27, 9/30, & 10/1)
Clay Creations 🏡 (10/7, 10/8)
Autumn Landscapes 🍁 (10/18 & 10/25)
Miniature Marvels 🦄 (11/5, 11/6 & 11/8)
Abstract Art 💧(11/11 & 11/27)
Solstice Sparkle ✨ (12/20 & 12/23)
Clay Creations 🍄 (12/30 & 12/31)
Mixed Media Art Journaling ✏️ (1/2 & 1/3)

🗓 Camps are from 9am-2:50pm and are $95/day. Aftercare and financial aid are available by request.

🌻 The age groups are K-6 but I have some flexibility if you have a younger or older child.

⛪️ Camps are at Iglesia Emanuel in Colonial Village, a church that does cool stuff in the community like weekly food pantries!

I'm so grateful to be providing a container for your children’s authentic play and self-expression for another school year! 🌈🧚‍♂️🍁🍄💖🦋

06/20/2024

Happy summer solstice! ☀️ Summer art camps began last week and the art-making momentum is building! We’ve really enjoyed making summery art! 🌊🏝️🐙☀️🌻 Sun catchers, watercolor sea shell buntings, and flower crowns are just a few projects we’ve enjoyed.

I think I’ll make some reels soon and art project tutorials so you can join the fun! These projects are catered for K-4 grades but honestly they can be adapted for all ages and your inner child too! Which project do you want to see first? 🌈

I’m so grateful to have on my art camp team this summer! She brings so much beauty everywhere she goes! 🧚

03/12/2024

💔✨🥀 cracked open 🥀✨💔 i’m swirling through a portal of grief - vast. it spirals outwards into the collective, into the heavens where my lost baby is. it spirals backwards through my ancestral line. so many lost babies, so many unhealed inner children, so much maternal pain. today would be my grandmother’s 99th birthday - she was one of 14 (living) children, her mother Estelle’s life force was consumed by birthing babies, miscarrying babies, nursing babies. I can feel her overwhelm in my body. she has showed up in my house as an angel - she cradled me when i was nursing sylvan alone in bed, she apologized for passing down a gaping maternal wound, she thanked me for giving my child the gift of presence, of nurture and attunement. i wept and my tears were not my own, they belonged to the women before me, whose tears were never witnessed, honored, released, healed. 💧

4 years ago I saw my second baby for the first time on an ultrasound. I was 20 weeks pregnant. The next day the world would shut down from the pandemic, and that’s the day she revealed her name to me - Sylvan Maya - Forest Magic. She named herself on my grandmother’s 95th birthday. Grandma died the next summer, just a day before my child’s first birthday.

Since last fall, my social media feed has been flooded with images of dead babies and grieving mothers. I feel their pain in my womb space and my hips. I cannot walk from the pain anymore, so I light my altar and pray for their protection and healing, for their liberation and the liberation of all.

Time is not linear, the spiral is dizzying, dazzling, and yet I am suspended within it’s translucent wings. 🌀

My solo show KAIROS opens this friday at golden belt arts. It is an offering from my soul, from the women who came before me, an expression of this grief transmuted into hope, color, beauty. If you are in Durham on 3/15, I would love to see you and embrace you. Let’s hold each other and transmute this pain together. 🫂

The reception is from 6-9pm. I’ll post more info in the link in my bio for you soon.

10/20/2023

Are you a busy parent looking for enriching activities for your kids on holidays and teacher workdays? You still have time to register for my upcoming Fall Art Mini Camps!

And the great news is I’ve just added more days of camp to include more independent schools, in addition to DPS.

Camps are from 9am-3pm at Golden Belt Arts in Durham. Aftercare until 4:30pm is available by request. Camps are for grades K-6, with a maximum of 12 students per day.

Click any of the links below or scan the QR code in the flyer to learn more and register your kids:

11/1 - Color Theory
11/3 - Color Theory
11/7 - Collaborative Art
11/10 - Selfie Art
11/20 - Selfie Art
11/21 - Collaborative Art
11/22 - Abstract Painting
12/20 - Holiday Canvas Art
12/21- Holiday Canvas Art
12/22 - Holiday Canvas Art

I’m looking forward to making art with your kids this fall!

Learn more about Fall Mini Camps and Register here: https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/64caaee8b77754003ae944ae

09/04/2022

A little sunday morning art journaling makes the day 100% better! 🥰 I haven't shared my creations here in a few months, but that doesn't mean i haven't been making art! My creativity is just in more of an incubation stage, turned inwards towards my domestic life and my toddler.
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I'm v much in an in-between stage of reevaluating the structures and containers that allow my gifts to flourish, and letting my creativity guide me towards what i want my life to be. It's been hard to express my artistic voice lately and connect with my imagination, but I am finding it again in the crevices (thanks for this brilliant metaphor!) To do this, I've had to let go of some of the hopes and dreams I had before I became a parent, before the pandemic, before my chronic illness flared up again. So I grieve when I can and let them go to clear space for what's ahead. Creation and deconstruction dance hand in hand in the cycle of life/death/life. Sometimes the falling apart shines in the spotlight before the creation gets her solo. ☀️
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The canvas of my life feels blank again, which is scary and exhilarating, and together with my toddler and with you, our community, we will dream a new creation into existence. 🦋
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06/22/2022

Triangle parents! Are any of you looking for summer camps at the last minute for your tweens and teens? I am teaching 7 weeks of summer camps at Golden Belt Arts in Durham this summer, and the first camp session is next week! 🎉
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Imagining the Self Camp (the week of June 27-July 1) is still open for Grades 5-8 and a few spots are still available! Projects in this camp include DIY art journaling, drawing self portraits, a little creative writing, and the art of the selfie. I’m providing point-and-shoot cameras for the campers to use, and it’s going to be a lot of fun!
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You can register for this camp using this link:

https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/625cb593475875deb2be7c77

Camps are half-day from 9-12pm at Golden Belt Artists in Durham! (Fun fact: we were just voted Best Art Gallery in Durham!)
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Other camps you can still enroll your kids in are:
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🟣 Mixed Media (July 5-8)
🔴 Abstract Art (July 11-15)
🟠 Drawing (July 18-22) - afternoon session only
🟡 Photography (July 25-29)
🟢 Independent Projects (Aug 1-5)
🔵 Color Your World for Grades 1-4 (August 15-19)

06/18/2022

It’s finally not 100 degrees out in Durham, so I’m doing some creative exploration on my porch with liquid acrylics and soaking up ☀️☀️☀️ for this summer solstice season!
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How are you playing today? What is one activity that is bringing you joy?
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06/17/2022

Happy Friday!!! It’s been awhile since I did an intro post since I’ve been busy chasing my spunky toddler! 🤸‍♀️ I’m Courtney Potter, and I’m passionate about helping you reconnect with your inner child through art-making. I firmly believe we are all born with infinite creativity, but it gets suppressed through societal programming and trauma. But it never really disappears and is inside you, ready to be unlocked, enjoyed, and expressed! You don’t have to be a professional artist or even have an art practice to enjoy your creativity. For me, the easiest way to access and appreciate creativity right now is to play with children. My toddler is constantly inspired by the world, and just spending time with her helps me see the magic around me, which I am one with. Separateness is an illusion and creativity is a bridge to other dimensions! 🌈✨🪐
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When do you feel most creative? Comment below, I’d love to hear!
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04/28/2022

Do you want your kids to have a meaningful and enriching art experience this summer with a teacher you trust? 🤸‍♀️🌈✨

If yes, I invite you to check out these 7 art camps that I’ve just opened for registration!

The cool thing about these camps is that they'll be at Golden Belt Arts, an actual artist studio that’s home to 25 professional working artists!

A bonus is that at the end of the camp season, your kids are invited to show their work in an actual gallery setting within the studios.

THE CAMPS:

💜 June 20 - 24: Color Your World (Grades 1-4)
❤️ June 27 - July 1: Imagining the Self (Grades 1-4)
🧡 July 5 - 8: Mixed Media (Grades 5-8)
💛 July 11 - 15: Abstract Art (Grades 5-8)
💚 July 18 - 22: Drawing (Grades 5-8)
💙 July 25 - 29: Photography (Grades 5-8)
🖤 August 1 - 5: Independent Projects (Grades 5-8)

The Details:

🖍 Each camp is half-day from 9am-12pm.
🖌 All materials are provided.
🖊 Golden Belt Arts is located at 800 S Taylor St., Durham NC 27701.

I'm only accepting a maximum of 8 students per week, so register now to save your spot! http://courtney-potter.com/art-camp-in-durham/ (Link also in bio!)

I've got all sorts of fun art projects up my sleeves for this summer and can't wait to get started! I’ll be sharing more with you about each camp over the following weeks.

Tag a family in the comment who you know would LOVE these art camps! 🎨

ID: Art by Zamaria, age 14. Yellow pop-art painting of a baby chick, with the phrase "Whatever" in green bubble letters. Nail polish, sharpies, and a bright pink painted CD surround the artwork.

04/16/2022

Just finished this super fun astrology natal chart painting commission for my dear friend . Today is a full moon in Libra so it seems fitting to share this with you now! This birth chart is a 20” diameter round canvas with acrylic and metallic paint marker detailing! ☀️🌙✨
I enjoy reading natal charts for friends but hate looking at my tiny phone screen when interpreting them, so I figured why not make a large painting of a natal chart? It’s so much easier to understand the symbols when it’s on a big, colorful canvas! And you can rotate it/hang it however you want! 🙃😁🙃
I’m a total astrology nerd, but it’s not something I’ve consciously incorporated into my art until recently. It’s been 6 years since a friend of a friend read my chart for me at a birthday party and it was scary accurate how much this stranger knew about me. I immediately went home and did a deep dive and learned everything I could. I now use astrology daily as a way to explore myself and my relationship to others and to the natural world.
Learning astrology is like learning a language, and it’s become a regular part of my spiritual practice. I’ve learned a lot with the help of and her new/full moon rituals and now her amazing app .app ! I also love listening to podcast when I’m driving or editing photos. There are so many great resources out there from astrologers who know way more than I do!
What do you like about astrology? Do you know what your natal chart looks like? Tag a friend who would like this astrology art! ♉️♎️♈️

03/26/2022

My exhibition REEMERGENCE is up for one more weekend before I take it down mid-week. It's not too late to see it!
The studio is open from 12-5pm this weekend, so you can drop in with no appointment necessary to view the exhibition. If you'd like to set up viewing hours with me 1:1, send me a DM and we'll make it happen!
As a thank you to everyone for all your support this month, I'm extending my sale on paintings in my new collection. All textured abstracts and mandalas are 20% off in my online shop from now until 3/31! Use code REEMERGENCE1 at checkout for 20% off your painting order. 🌈✨
Rainbow Chakra Mandala, $380 with discount code

Address

718 Iredell Street
Durham, NC
27705

Website

http://www.courtney-potter.com/

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