YORK Art Gallery is going to pot, but in a good way. A new gallery dedicated to one of Britain’s most important pottery collections is opening this summer in the self-explanatory Gallery of Pots, a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title, but apt nevertheless.

“The name was the hardest thing we had to think about. It took us ages,” says Helen Walsh, the assistant curator of decorative arts. “We wanted something quite simple but not too boring.”

The profusion of pots will replace Modern Approaches on the first floor in the room that housed York Art Gallery’s rotating programme of temporary exhibitions until the £445,000 refurbishment programme of 2005.

Thanks to funding from the Arts Council Yorkshire and Renaissance Yorkshire, the 1970s suspended ceiling has been removed to reveal the original Victorian architecture, creating a modern space decorated in white to present the York Museums Trust collection in the best light.

“The trust has a brilliant collection of around 12,500 pots spanning many styles and hundreds of years,” says Helen.

“The public have always been keen to see more of these ceramics and we’re delighted that we can now dedicate a whole gallery to this fantastic collection.”

The new gallery is undergoing a “soft opening”, the buzzword for a low-key beginning in which the doors opened for the first time last weekend.

The official opening date is on Tuesday, followed by the formal opening by Professor Emmanuel Cooper OBE at a private view on September 10 at 6.30pm.

The launch exhibition, entitled 3 Collectors, is a showcase of the favourite studio pots from the trust’s collections of the late Wakefield librarian WA Ismay, the late Dean of York Eric Milner-White and London gallery owner Henry Rothschild.

WA Ismay MBE (1910-2001) began collecting in 1955 and went on to share his small terraced home with 3,670 pots. He accumulated the pieces using his librarian’s wage and then his pension, and despite his financial restrictions, he nevertheless acquired works by the leading lights of studio pottery, such as Bernard Leach, Hans Coper and Lucie Rie. All of these were donated on his death to the Yorkshire Museum, now also run by York Museums Trust.

Eric Milner-White (1884-1963) contributed greatly to the cultural life of the city while at York Minster. He was one of the first collectors of studio pottery, gathering the biggest and best pieces he could find, most of them stoneware from the 1920s to the 1960s.

He donated 170 pieces to the City Art Gallery, complemented by his paintings (some of which are included in the exhibition).

Henry Rothschild (born 1913) is the latest collector to give ceramics to the York collection, in his case 46 craft pieces earlier this year. Rothschild is a major figure in the pottery movement, having set up the Primavera Gallery in London in 1946: one of the first galleries to sell British craft alongside factory-produced wares and European folk art.

“He made no distinction between them; he just sold what he thought was the best,” says Helen.

“3 Collectors explores the lives and the passion for ceramics of three of the most important collectors in British studio pottery history, with around 60 of the 110 pots on public display for the first time.

“The exhibition will tell the story of studio pottery in Britain through these incredible pots and the three incredible men who collected them.”

One corner of the gallery will serve as an interactive learning area, with a sofa, a wide-screen television for showing ceramic-related programmes and the original shelves that WA Ismay fashioned for his collection. On here will be displayed pots for visitors to handle.

“We’ll be choosing from around 300 pots for the shelves,” says Helen.

Putting the finishing touches to the inaugural exhibition, she looks forward to an exciting future for the Gallery of Pots. “It’s a wonderful, bright and airy space in which we can show off our world-class collection of pottery properly for the first time,” she says.

The changing exhibitions will take up the majority of the space but highlights from York Art Gallery’s other ceramic collections will be displayed too, not least recent acquisitions of contemporary work.

Among these are a new “Temperance Toby” jug and Felicity Aylieff’s Hua De Tu An, Flower Pictures II, a big pot bought with the help of the Art Fund and Museums Libraries and Archives/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

“It’s two metres high and it took seven men to move it upstairs from the South Gallery to the new gallery,” says Helen.

• 3 Collectors will run in the new Gallery Of Pots at York Art Gallery until May 9 2010. Opening hours are 10am to 5pm daily.