Providing support, opportunity, and encouragement to help young artists in public junior high and high schools discover their potential.
Santa Barbara Art Association
We supplement art supplies in more than
ninety art classrooms in the greater Santa Barbara area.
“Thank you for doing this for us. We really could not provide quality programs otherwise.” —Art Teacher, Santa Barbara High School
We fund event transportation for art students.
“Thank you so much for Portfolio Day! It was a lot of fun, really helpful and a great experience.” — Anna, High School Student
We sponsor student art shows.
Grandparent Portrait Shows
Online Art Shows:
Drawing
Ceramics, Sculpture, Jewelry
Painting, Printmaking
Photography & Digital Art
We provide support for individual art students and art teacher projects of merit.
“Thank you so much for your generosity and vision in helping these young people develop their visual skills…” — Art Teacher, Dos Pueblos High School
The Student Art Fund makes monetary grants to teachers for unique art related projects that would not be attempted without additional support.
The Student Art Fund sponsors the Grandparent Portrait Show as well as the Online Student Art Show featuring ceramics, sculpture, digital art and photography, painting, drawing, and printmaking.
Aya Al Sabeh, Dos Pueblos High School
The Eighth Biennial Grandparent Portrait Show contains portraits, in various media, of grandparents or beloved elders. The art work was created by art students from local junior and senior public high schools during this year of online instruction. Working under the guidance of their art teachers, young artists created nearly 300 portraits in a variety of media for consideration. From these submissions, 157 were selected for the exhibition.
The exhibition will be on display at the Faulkner Gallery at the Santa Barbara Public Library at 40 E. Anapamu Street, from April 5th through April 27th. Visit the online gallery for the 2023 Grandparent Portrait Show here to view this year’s featured artworks.
The exhibit was juried by Nicole Strasburg, who viewed images of all the entries and selected thirteen award-winning portraits and five honorable mentions. Those eighteen images are featured in our award winners’ gallery.
The art programs in the public schools are perhaps where students from the widest diversity in the Santa Barbara population participate equally. The Grandparent Portrait assignment has been a favorite of public school art teachers for over a decade because, in addition to the opportunity to use any media, students are invited to explore the cultures of their families to find source material for their portraits, as well as to engage with grandparents who live in the community. Public comments always express surprise at the racial and cultural diversity expressed in the portraits, as well as the displayed excellence of our public school art programs. Teachers have heard that these portraits stay in the families and become heirlooms.
The Student Art Fund is committed to inspiring young artists.
To that end we produce online exhibitions biennially.
Emma Coombes, “Ethan W. Coombes”, Oil Paint, San Marcos High School, teacher: Katie Garibay
The 2022 Online Art Show offered an opportunity to Art Teachers and students to showcase their work from the 2021-2022 school year in five categories—digital art and photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture/3D art. This years’ show had over x entries! We hope that students and teachers enjoy seeing their own and their peers’ work exhibited, and that the public sees the wonderful art education our youth are receiving in our local public schools.
The show includes artwork created by students from junior high and high school art classrooms in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Goleta. The submitted artwork was evaluated and sponsored by art teachers at each school. Each art teacher was permitted to sponsor up to ten pieces per category. Three equal Awards of Excellence have been awarded for each category of the Online Show. You can view the award winning artwork here.
Multiple Jurors participated in this year’s show. Drawing entries were juried by Anne Chesnut, Retired Santa Barbara Secondary Art Teacher and Artist, and Brian Tepper, Artist and Board Member of the Santa Barbara Art Association, member of the Lynda Fairly Carpinteria Community Art Center, and Abstract Art Collective. Painting entries were juried by Sally Hamilton, Santa Barbara Art Association and MAST Artist, and Sarah Carr, retired Secondary Art Teacher, Landscape Painter and Jeweler. Digital Art and Photography entries were juried by Letitia Haynes, Photographer and Fine Art Printer for Reflections Digital Lab in Santa Barbara. Printmaking entries were juried by Brooke Van Der Kar, Visual Arts and Design Academy, Santa Barbara High School, Retired Art Teacher of drawing and painting and VADA Director of Career and Outreach, and Paula (Peet) Steinmetz, retired Psychologist and Teacher, and longtime Printmaker and Photographer. Sculpture/3D artwork entries were juried by Lorie Stout, retired High School Ceramic Teacher and current Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education Ceramic Teacher, and Marion Toms, a Potter/Ceramic Artist for over 50 years.
To view previous online student art shows, visit the 2020 Online Student Art Show, or the 2018 Online Student Art Show, or scroll through the galleries below.
Audie Love Self Portrait
Audie Love (1941-2015) was the founder and guiding light of the Student Art Fund.As a high school art teacher, Audie provided AP students a strong foundation in art history, life drawing, composition, and 2D/3D design principles. Rarely seen at the high school level, Audie taught his AP students how to build a quality, 40-piece portfolio — an effort that took students three to four years to complete and opened doors to top art schools. Upon graduation, portfolios were submitted to the College Board AP Studio Art Exam. Notable automotive illustrator and fabricator Chip Foose was also one of Audie’s former students.
Audie’s joy was to keep connected with his students, especially those who pursued art. His former AP art student Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins, who was named a Presidential Arts Scholar, wrote, “Audie prepared me to study at the best art schools in the world, and although I subsequently studied with many great teachers, to this day I have ONE true teacher: Audie Love. I often say that I am a student of Love, which means to live my life doing what I love and doing it as passionately as Mr. Love did.”
Natalie Cederquist Levin
This online show was created by the Student Art Fund as a way to honor Audie by showcasing examples of his former students’ accomplishments since graduating from high school together with examples of Audie’s own artwork. We hope that these images will truly inspire today’s art students. We want them to see how art continues to nourish and sustain Audie’s former students — professionally and personally — during their adult years.
Please continue to visit the show, as more images from Audie’s former students will be added as they are received.
View the Legacy Show Gallery
View the Artists’ Works and Their Statements
Audie Love: In Memoriam
Gabriella Crisa, a senior at San Marcos High School, will attend UCLA this fall and plans to become a graphic designer and work in marketing. Her preferred medium is acrylic paint, and she particularly appreciates its opacity, versatility, and thick texture. Gabriella was award third place in last year’s Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Art Contest.
“Summer is my favorite season, a time of laughter, relaxation, and color. When the weather is hotter and the days are longer, everything seems a bit brighter and bolder. The future gets fuzzier and past anxieties fade away. This mindset informs my work,” she said.
The kids are so proud of their work being online. It’s a great way to show relatives, who may not be here, their work, and it’s so much fun for everyone to see what other schools are up to!
Last year the Student Art Fund made it possible for all my students to paint on canvas for the first time. You have already made a difference for students with your contribution.
Our visit to Otis Art Institute for Portfolio Day was fun and inspiring. It definitely changed the way I look at art. We are so grateful to you for making this possible.
Impressive! So much talent in our community from our youth showing their love for their elders. Kudos all!
