Julia Carter Preston

The Bluecoat is celebrating the centenary of Liverpool ceramicist Julia Carter Preston (1926–2012) with a series of exhibitions running from Friday 11 September to Sunday 8 November 2026. It's a proper local connection: her studio overlooked the Bluecoat garden for years, and her father, the sculptor Edward Carter Preston, was one of the people who helped found the arts centre in the first place.

There's a couple of things to see at the same time. In the Upstairs Gallery, there's an archive display called Julia at the Bluecoat, with photographs, documents and plaques. Alongside that, the Bluecoat Display Centre is showing Made from Scratch – Celebrating Julia Carter Preston, Ceramicist, which runs until Saturday 7 November. If you're into the talking side of things, there's also a symposium, Made from scratch: a symposium celebrating Liverpool ceramicist Julia Carter Preston, over at Liverpool Hope University's Creative Campus on Saturday 3 October.

Preston is best remembered for bringing back the sgraffito technique in the twentieth century. The process involves scratching through a coating of clay slip to reveal the layer underneath, then finishing the piece with metallic lustre glazes. She worked on bowls, plates, tiles and even a complete dinner service, with flowing, intricate patterns that drew on William Morris and Islamic art—work that echoed her uncle, the sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith. She studied at the Liverpool School of Art and later became Head of Ceramics there, and she was an official Wedgwood lecturer. Her work is held in public collections including the Walker Art Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

This is part of a wider programme staged across five Liverpool venues, so there's more to find beyond the Bluecoat. Entry is free, and the exhibitions run 10:00am to 5:00pm daily from Friday 11 September to Sunday 8 November, with the Display Centre show closing a few days early on Saturday 7 November.