THE Northern Stars exhibition has only a week left to run at the New School House Gallery in York.

This annual showcase of selected work by the Northern Potters Association features 26 potters, all but two of them – Isabel K J Denyer and Eryl Fryer – new to the Peasholme Green gallery.

The geographical tag stretches beyond what might be considered the north. “There are quite a few potters from in and around York, though the show includes work from the north east, north west, Midlands and even, in the case of Maureen McGregor, North Carolina,” says gallery co-owner Robert Teed, one of three selectors on the independent judging panel.

“You can belong to the Northern Potters Association and not actually live in the north,” he adds.

Since opening the School House in December 2009, Robert and co-owner Paula Jackson regularly have shown ceramics, leading to their hosting the Northern Stars show.

“Previously the Northern Potters had held their annual show at Rufford, in Nottinghamshire, but they approached us last year to have it here, which is a sign that we’ve built up a good reputation for strong ceramic work,” says Robert.

Explaining the choice of potters subsequently made by the panel, he says it was primarily driven by quality rather than a desire for variety: “If you’re selecting 26 potters, then you will have a spread of styles and approaches to using clay anyway, and exhibition visitors have enjoyed seeing the diverse approaches.”

Among the North Yorkshire ceramicists are Marianne von Tucka, Trudy Weir, Barbara Wood, Sylvia Holmes, Eric Moss, Fiona Mazza and Chiu-I Wu, who was born in Taiwan but now lives in York and is becoming highly collectable. Chiu-I’s coiled, hand-built stoneware piece A Bird On My Head is the most expensive on show at £1,250, but that price on its head is wholly warranted.

Look out too for Isabel Denyer’s deeply satisfying practical porcelain piece, Party Shepherd’s Pie Pot; Driffield potter Michelle Freemantle’s stoneware with a bamboo insert; Sheila Spencer’s playful Three Frog Plate; Alan Birchall’s Wedding Cog; Dollie and Garry Uttley’s Quilt Mirror; and David Wright’s use of hare fur in his coiled bowl.

The exhibition was opened by the distinguished American ceramicist Jim Robison, who was born in Missouri but has lived for 40 years in Britain, where he taught ceramics and sculpture at Bretton Hall and now lives in Holmfirth. A series of his latest works is the rather special icing on the cake of this top-of the-pots northern show, which will end on June 4.