Julia Carter Preston

Julia Carter Preston  1926-2012 was a major potter in Liverpool, specialising in highly intricate and gorgeous sgraffitto work. She had a studio in the famed Bluecoat Chambers in Liverpool city Centre  for many years. Slightly outside the mainstream of British studio potters, she was held with high regard in the Merseyside area and is now well collected. Her mark mainly had a yellow sticker on it, and her initials were inscribed on the back. Her work is unmistakeable though, some of the best sgraffito made in Britain,

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/22/julia-carter-preston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Carter_Preston

It is amazing stuff and I am amazed that I have never heard anything about her or seen images of her work before.

I agree with you Studio. Terrific work. It is not as if she hid her light under a bushel. She did have a studio in Bluecoat chambers for many years. This is an Arts Centre bang in the centre of Liverpool, where the shop was a renowned retailer of top end British studio pottery.
She had a couple of exhibitions in the Amalgam Gallery in Barnes back in the 1990's, but otherwise little in London. Obviously she had a ready local market in Liverpool that she was happy with.
She does have her collectors for considerable prices. That charger with the blue flowers above. That one or a similar one went for a hammer price of £1000 in an Adam Partridge sale in 2019.

I imagine that the work took a long time to make and the local market took what she could produce and so why bother going elsewhere.

The problem with her showing with Tim Boon at Amalgam is that he exhibited a similar range of potters as I did and her work wouldn't be the type of thing that his regular customers would have appreciated.

Thought I share the images. Bought it few years ago, big one 16 inch, amazing work, unfortunately not enough space in my London flat to display it.

Now that is gorgeous. It is such a great pity that her work is not better known and appreciated nationally. Her appeal is very much in the Liverpool/Manchester area. If you are thinking of parting with it then you will probably get the best price up North. Adam Partridge in Macclesfield do specialist studio pottery auctions.

Antiques Roadshow was at Sefton Park Liverpool and this is from the episode Broadcast 26/3/23. You do not often see Modern Studio Ceramics on Antiques Roadshow. So these three Julia Carter Preston pieces were welcome to see! Not her best work I would have thought. Bought for £35-£130 and he was given one. Estimated at £2000 value.  Julia Carter Preston being the essence of Liverpool of course!

This was a special commission from Elizabeth Zuckerman who was manager of the famed Bluecoat Centre in Liverpool for many years. She was a great friend of Bill Ismay, and this was made for his 70th birthday. It is an excellent illustration as to just how good Julia Cater Preston was. On show at the York Centre of Ceramic Art 2023.

In case it is of interest to anyone, we have a booklet published in 1999 to go with Julia Carter Preston's exhibition 'Creating from Scratch' held t the Walker Art Gallery30th april-13th June 1999. It talks about her work and includes photos. It is available seconhand online. ISBN isbn 1902700007. We have a few of her pieces including this lidded pot.

Interesting link to Julia Carter Preston at the Liverpool University Gallery.
https://vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/blog/2023/most-lustrous-the-ceramics-of-julia-carter-preston/

The bowl and the at the top and the vase as you scroll down are particularly stunning.