Pans Pottery Exhibition Draws Nigh ....and still Digging!

Graeme Cruickshank Putting Finishing Touches ....

... to what will be the largest exhibition ever given of Prestonpans Pottery. Opening date will be announced just as soon as the publishers of the 200pp full colour definitive Guide to Prestonpans Pottery are able to confirm delivery date - but it will be towards the end of August. The Exhibition will then run till end September at St Andrew's Episcopal Church on Ayres Wynd, opposite the Carnegie Library. In fact it is being held where the Library was for a year whilst the recent extension was built.

Whilst Graeme is gathering together under the aegis of the Prestoungrange Arts Festival details and artefacts from all that has already been unearthed, new digging at Prestongrange continues apace under County Archaeologist Biddy Simpson's direction. And as recent press reports have shown, her project has already established some significant new facts about glass making as well as uncovering fascinating pottery shards which Biddy has however decided should not be included in the Exhibition.

click on press cuttings to enlarge


Scottish Arts Council Awards for All to Meet 25% of Exhibition's Cost

The Scottish Arts Council was invited to give support to the Arts Festival for the Exhibition and the educational work involved [but not the definitive publication]. The Prestoungrange Arts Festival is delighted to announce that the Scottish Arts Council has lately agreed to provide £5,000 towards the total expected cost of £20,000. Graeme Cruickshank has been at work on the project and writing the definitive Guide for some three years. Its appearance from 'Prestoungrange Univeristy Press with Burke's Peerage' in late August will be the first occasion that a comprehensive book solely devoted to Prestonpans Pottery has ever been published. Whilst its cover price will be £18.95, single copies will be available to all attending the Exhibition at £10. Commemorative souvenir mugs will also be available and Gillian Hart, who is co-ordinating the Exhibition also has a programme of events and visits scheduled. Any group wishing to bring a party along should contact Gillian on 01875 819922.

Principal Photographer with Graeme Cruickshank has been Linda Sneddon, who created the images for last year's Murals Trail and Art Treasures of Prestonpans and the two 'town calendars' that coincided with the Global Murals Conference. The Graphic Design is once again from John and Jenny Unwin.

The Arts Festival embarked on the Exhibition because it was the first flowering of the arts in Prestonpans beginning in the middle of the 18th century with the Watsons, Gordons and Cadells. It was preceded this Spring by The Prestonpans Pottery Road Show that uncovered more than 500 Prestonpans pots in more than 100 pairs of private hands, not least with John Burns where he and his late father have been lifelong collectors.
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