Julia Althea Carter Preston (26 January 1926 – 6 January 2012) was a British

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US *Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska *Potters, New Jerse ...

who was responsible for reviving the art of

sgraffito (; ) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of another underlying coating which is in a contrasting colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in con ...

(where designs are scratched on to

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s) in the United Kingdom in the 1950s. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, the youngest of four daughters of the sculptor

Edward Carter Preston Edward Carter Preston (7 July 1885 – 2 March 1965) was an English artist, renowned as a sculptor and medallist. Biography Preston was born, and died, in Liverpool. He designed the bronze memorial plaques presented to the families of Britis ...

and his wife Marie (née Tyson Smith), a watercolourist and the sister of the sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith, Julia Carter Preston attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Girls, Blackburne House.Preston's obituary
in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' 18 January 2012 While studying at the

Liverpool College of Art Liverpool College of Art has an unbroken history dating back to 1825, making it the oldest English school of art outside London. From 1883 it was located at 68 Hope Street, Liverpool, England, in a building designed by Thomas Cook, which is no ...

in the 1940s she discovered a passion for ceramics and chose to specialise in pottery, passing her pottery examination and gaining a National Diploma in Art in 1951. Following this, Carter Preston taught ceramics at several colleges in Liverpool and became Head of Ceramics and taught

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

at the

when

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Stuart Sutcliffe Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a British painter and musician from Edinburgh, Scotland, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a pa ...

were students there. She held this post until the mid-1970s. During the 1960s she worked for a period as

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English China (material), fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons L ...

's official lecturer in the north-west. In 1960 she married Michael Pugh Thomas, a marine biologist and environmental scientist.Brown, E. Myra, ''Julia Carter Preston'' - Publisher: National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside (1999) There were no children of the marriage. Examples of Julia Carter Preston’s work were presented to

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

and the Duchess of Kent when they made official visits to Liverpool. Another piece was commissioned as a present for the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

when he visited the newly restored St George’s Hall in the city in 2007. An exhibition of her work was held at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

in 1999; this was opened by ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' expert

Tim Wonnacott Timothy Wonnacott (born 12 March 1951) is an English chartered auctioneer, chartered surveyor, antiques expert, narrator, and a television presenter. He was previously a director of Sotheby's, one of the world's oldest auction houses. He is bes ...

, who is an enthusiastic collector of her work. Carter Preston was made a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

in 2005. Her work is represented in the

, the Liverpool University Art Gallery, the York Art Gallery, the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

in Belfast and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in Washington. After the death of her husband in March 2011 she lived in a nursing home near to her former home in Canning Street. Her own collection of her ceramics was donated to

Liverpool Hope University Liverpool Hope University (abbreviated LHU) is a public university with campuses in Liverpool, England. ‌The university grew out of three Normal school#United Kingdom, teacher training colleges: Saint Katharine's College (originally Warring ...

where a trust has been set up to preserve the collection and support student bursaries.Preston's obituary
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' 22 January 2012

References

External links

'Julia Carter Preston part of Liverpool artistic dynasty'
- obituary in the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

'' 4 February 2012
In memoriam: Julia Carter Preston
-

10 January 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Julia Carter 1926 births 2012 deaths English contemporary artists English ceramicists English potters Academics of Liverpool College of Art People associated with Liverpool John Moores University Women potters 21st-century ceramists British women ceramicists