‘Celebrating 10 Years’

CUBE GALLERY: 24 March 2018 to 23 April 2019

This exhibition tells the story of the Leach Pottery’s last 10 years. Reopening as a Museum and working Pottery in March 2008, after closing its doors to the public in 2005, the Leach Pottery began a new life as a Museum, Studio, Shop, and Educational resource. In a small way, this exhibition is a thank you to all the people, potters, and volunteers, who helped save the Leach Pottery in those critical early years when the site could have been lost to development.

Site plans show how the Leach Pottery has developed over recent years and how it might look in the future – there is also the opportunity to let us know what you would like to see and do here in the future. There is a series of before-and-after pictures, showing the site from several viewpoints and how it has changed over the past decade. Also, a selection of Leach-related stories have been reproduced from the St Ives Times & Echo.

The exhibition also looks at the Leach Restoration Project – how a group formed to save the Pottery and create a Museum and modern Studio, acquiring, restoring, and enhancing the site, by raising £1.7 million. There are also activities for children, including handling and matching Leach shards, Leach-themed jigsaw puzzles, resources for pottery drawing, colouring and designing, plus two mini tea sets for handling.

On display, you will find pots by makers who were part of our recent history and those who are working with us today. Potters and works included:

  • Shannon Bartlett-Smith

  • Jacob Bodilly

  • Amanda Brier

  • Trevor Corser

  • Jack Doherty

  • Laurence Eastwood

  • Matthew Foster

  • Michel Francois

  • Britta James

  • Janet Leach

  • Annabelle Smith

  • Callum Trudgeon

  • Roelof Uys

  • Joanna Wason

  • Kat Wheeler.

  • Leach Pottery Tableware (2008-14) – Soda Fired

  • Leach Pottery Standard Ware (2014-today) – both Stoneware & Porcelain

  • ‘How To Throw A Teapot’ – a series of physical examples of stages in the making process supported by a film documenting the entire production process.