Exhibitions
We hold exhibitions across our Museum – in the Cube Gallery (currently closed) and Entrance Gallery – and in our Shop Gallery.
Our exhibition programme highlights the history of the Leach Pottery and the many potters who have worked here and drawn influence from Bernard Leach, as well as the work of contemporary potters.
Current Exhibitions
Matthew Tyas: At the Wheel – A Curator in Mashiko
Preview & Meet the Artist: Friday 5 September, 6 - 8pm
Shop Gallery: 6 September - 5 October 2025
Online (coming soon): 27 October - 23 November 2025
During a two-month international artist’s residency at the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan (April-June 2025), Matthew created a new body of pots in the spirit of openness and acceptance: experimenting with local materials and searching for a rhythm between discovery and consistency.
The Leach Pottery: One & All
Preview & Meet the Artists: Friday 11 July, 6 - 8pm
Entrance Gallery: 12 July - 1 November 2025
Online: 24 November - 21 December 2025
The Leach Pottery: One & All celebrates creativity across today’s Leach Pottery. The exhibition features individual potters from the Studio, and colleagues working at the wider Leach Pottery, including freelance tutors. The eclectic selection of pots speak of our creative diversity and love of clay.
Past Exhibitions
2025
Students Over a Century: Roots and Branches, 20 July 2024 - 5 October 2025: Cube Gallery
Muchelney Pottery: 60 Years Strong, 21 June - 20 July 2025: Shop Gallery
Mark Griffiths: Half a Century – Full of Craft, 5 April - 6 July 2025: Entrance Gallery
Matthew Foster: A Mashiko Residency, 15 February - 30 March 2025: Entrance Gallery
2024
Leach Studio: A Potter’s Challenge, 14 September - 28 December 2024: Entrance Gallery
John Bedding: 60 Years On, 25 May - 8 September 2024: Entrance Gallery
Ellie Woods: An Apprenticeship, 20 July - 18 August 2024: Shop Gallery
Leach Pottery: First Students, 6 May 2023 - 30 June 2024: Cube Gallery
Colour & Movement, 9 February - 19 May 2024: Entrance Gallery
2023
Clive Bowen at 80, 21 September - 30 December 2023: Entrance Gallery
Roelof Uys: From Mashiko to St Ives, 21 September - 8 October 2023: Shop Gallery
Niek Hoogland: Best of Both Worlds, 5 - 13 August 2023: Shop Gallery
Lisa Hammond: Soda Alchemy, 8 July - 17 September 2023: Entrance Gallery
Isatu Hyde: Beauty Rooted in Use, 6 May - 2 July 2023: Entrance Gallery
Lou Tonkin: Sketches & Prints, 6 May - 4 June 2023: Museum Installation
Doug Fitch & Hannah McAndrew: An Ongoing Devotion, 25 February - 30 April 2023: Entrance Gallery
Michael Leach, October 2022 - 16 April 2023: Cube Gallery
2022
Studio_Space, July to December 2022: Entrance Gallery
Helen Doherty: Encountering St Ives, August to September 2022
People & Pottery - stories from our community, April to October 2022: Cube Gallery
Tomoo Hamada: Pots from St Ives, 2 to 31 July 2022
John Webb: 100 Pots, April to July 2022: Entrance Gallery
Clay & Community, November 2021 to March 2022: Cube Gallery
2021
Hyosun Kim ‘Journey of a Moon Jar’, November to December 2021
Leach 100 Commission Artists, November to December 2021
100 Years of Leach and Hamada Influence, December to February 2021
John Leach 65 Years a Potter, July to September 2021
2020
Annabelle Smith: An Apprenticeship, 9 November - 18 December: Online
Century of Connections, 9 September - 4 November: Cube Gallery
Leach Studio Potters: 100 Years On, 15 February - 12 July: Entrance Gallery & Online
Kat Wheeler, 1 November 2019 - 8 February 2020: Entrance Gallery
Surface, 4 May 2019 - 8 March 2020: Cube Gallery
2019
Peter Rose: Soda Fired, 11 October - 9 November 2019: Shop Gallery
Michel Francois & Young Gi Seo: Cornwall to Korea, 17 August - 27 October 2019: Entrance Gallery
Callum Trudgeon: Japan & Denmark - Wood Fired Pots, 17 August - 29 September 2019: Shop Gallery
Andile Dyalvane: Our Cultures In Constant Collaboration, 29 June - 11 August 2019: Entrance Gallery
Potters From Japan, 2 March - 19 May 2019: Entrance Gallery
Celebrating 10 Years, 24 March 2018 - 23 April 2019: Cube Gallery
Shoji Hamada: 40 Years On, 8 December 2018 - 24 February 2019: Entrance Gallery
2018
Clementina van der Walt: Solo Show, 13 October - 2 December 2018: Entrance Gallery
Matthew Foster: An Apprenticeship, 13 October - 2 December 2018: Shop
Roelof Uys: Works Of Function, Works Of Art, 7 July - 7 October 2018: Entrance Gallery
Leach Pottery Studio: 10 Years On, 7 July - 9 September 2018: Shop
Reunion: Potters From The Time Of Bernard Leach, 24 March - 1 July 2018: Entrance Gallery
The Teabowl: Past & Present, 9 September 2017 - 11 March 2018: Cube Gallery
Teachers’ Pots: Celebrating The Work Of Our Education Team, 4 November - January 2018: Entrance Gallery
2017
Carson Culp: A Year at the Leach, 17 November - 1 December 2017: Shop Gallery
Jim Malone: New Pots from the Kiln, 9 September - 29 October 2017: Entrance Gallery
Potter's Prize Draw Exhibition, 15 - 22 September 2017
Clay in Practice: The Leach Studio, 17 June - 3 September 2017: Entrance Gallery
Clay: That Continuous Material, 25 March - 27 August 2017: Cube Gallery
Callum Trudgeon: An Apprenticeship, 17 June - 30 July 2017
Japanese Connections, 25 March - 11 June 2017: Entrance Gallery
Plymouth in Practice: Tutors, 21 January - 12 March 2017: Cube Gallery
Plymouth in Practice: Alumni & Students, 21 January - 19 March 2017: Entrance Gallery
2016
Fire it Up, 5 November 2016 - January 2017
Amanda Brier, 10 September - 30 October 2016
David & Margaret Frith, 9 July - 4 September 2016
Leach Heritage
David Leach: Industrial Devils and Standard Ware, 13 September 2015 - 6 March 2016: Cube Gallery
Jeff Oestreich & Pat Burns, 15 - 30 October 2016
2015
Doug Fitch & Hannah McAndrew: A Love Affair with Clay, 28 November 2015 - 16 January 2016
Kat Wheeler: A Leach Potter in Japan, 6 November 2015 - 30 March 2016
Joanna Wason, 28 March - 23 May 2015
Mark Griffiths, 30 May - 11 July 2015: Entrance Gallery
Emmanuel Cooper: Connections & Contrasts, 13 June - 6 September 2015: Cube Gallery
Glaze Alchemy, 18 July - 6 September 2015: Entrance Gallery
Robin Welch, 12 September - 22 November 2015: Entrance Gallery
2014
From the Studio, 13 December 2014 - 31 January 2015: Entrance Gallery
2013
Warren MacKenzie: An American Potter, 21 September -2 November 2013
Leach Legacy, 19 March - 8 May 2013: Entrance Gallery
Bernard Leach: Artist: Cube Gallery
Past Off-Site Exhibitions
Exhibitions about the Leach Pottery in other locations.
The Leach Pottery: Living The Legacy, Thrown at Highgate Contemporary, London. 7 September - 3 October 2018
Illustrations of the Leach Pottery St Ives, 2012-2018, by Hilary Jean Gibson, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives. 27 August - 12 September 2018
The Leach Pottery: The Sound of it, Craft Study Centre. 3 January - 9 December 2017
That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio 1920 - Today, Tate St Ives. 31 March- 3 September 2017