Leda May

Leda May 1945 – 2023

We were saddened to hear recently of the death of Leda May. Hers was a familiar face in Ballydehob, where she lived for many decades. Her little pottery studio on The Parade has always been a landmark in the village:

Above – Brian Lalor and Leda May in the Ballydehob Arts Museum, 2019. Leda continued to work until her recent illness, and her blue porcelain ware is familiar to many of us in and around the community.

A documentary about Leda – ‘The Elephant & The Dandelion’, directed by Martin Daley, was made in 2015 – and is available to view here. Leda May was born in London, grew up in Suffolk, and studied ceramics at Hornsea College of Art in the 1960s. She was also drawn to the medium of stained glass which gave her the opportunity to create with colour. Here are two of her glass pieces (reproduced from the documentary film with thanks to the crew):

Leda was at first attracted to the culture and landscapes of India, but in due course Leda and her husband Bob set out in a converted ambulance ‘to visit all the potters in Ireland’, and arrived in West Cork in the late 60s, meeting Christa Reichel at Gurteenakilla. Christa encouraged them to set up their own pottery behind the Flower House: this was known as Luba Studios.

When the Ballydehob Arts Museum opened in 2018, Leda was among the West Cork artists celebrated, and she was always a supporter of the Museum, which has put on several exhibitions to date. The Museum is sited within Bank House, a colourful building owned and run by the community.

This dresser in a household within our village displays several examples of Leda’s work – and other works by Ballydehob’s creative community of artists:

We wish Leda farewell, knowing she has left behind her a legacy of original work which will always be appreciated. But she will principally be remembered as a gentle spirit and talented artist within her community.

Leda May at her wheel in Ballydehob in 1980. A retrospective of Leda’s work is currently being prepared and will be shown this year in the Blue House Gallery, Schull between Friday 28 April and Wednesday 17 May.

Bohemians in Ballydehob!

My first visit to Ballydehob wasn’t until around 1990. I remember being struck by how busy a place it was then – I only wish my memories from nearly 30 years ago were clearer. I now know, of course, that this vibrant little community has a history of being a cosmopolitan creative hub of the arts going right back to the middle of the last century. It’s a fascinating story, and Ballydehob is celebrating it by establishing an Arts Museum and permanent collection, with the first exhibition opening this week in Bank House: please come!

Above: two batiks by Nora Golden. Left – The Rock of the Rings (rock art at Ballybane West) and right – detail from a work depicting Loughcrew-type passage grave art. Nora and her partner, Christa Reichel were early arrivals on the arts scene in Ballydehob. In the 1960s Christa bought a farmhouse and set up the region’s first studio pottery in Gurteenakilla then, with Nora, opened the ‘Flower House’ in the centre of the town: you can see it illustrated in the exhibition flyer at the bottom of this post. All this is well documented in the excellent book by Alison Ospina (herself a talented furniture maker) ‘West Cork Inspires’ (Stobart Davies, 2011).

These denizens of 1970s Ballydehob are not a Heavy Metal band (to my knowledge) but in fact four important artists who had settled here: John Verling – artist, ceramicist and architect,  Pat Connor – ceramic sculptor, Brian Lalor – artist, writer and printmaker, and David Chechovich – watercolourist. They are wearing the uniform of the time. Here’s Brian Lalor in his studio today (photo by Finola) – you can certainly see the similarity . . .

Brian still lives near Ballydehob, and is the mastermind and Curator of the new collection. And, if you can begin to see it all fitting together, John Verling (on the left in the exhibition poster above) took over the Gurteenakilla Pottery with his wife Noelle and together they produced striking ceramics, examples of which are in the header photograph.

Gurteenakilla is lived in today by Angela Brady, an artist who works with fused glass. She is also an architect. And – she’s performing the most important task of opening the first exhibition in our new Arts Museum on Friday. Finola wrote about Angela and other artists who contributed to the 7 Hands show on the pier in Ballydehob two years ago: have a look at her post and see if you recognise any other names.

Beautiful stoneware goblets by Pat Connor, who is well represented in the collection. His maker’s mark is a memorable graphic. Another well known West Cork ceramicist represented here is Leda May, who with her husband Bob found Ballydehob in the late 1960s when they were invited by Christa Reichel to set up a pottery behind her own shop. Leda is still working in the area today, producing very fine painted porcelain ware (an example of which is shown below).

Above, from the exhibition – two earthenware mugs by Etain Hickey and Jim Turner, Rossmore Pottery 1983 and two Raku lustreware pieces by Jim Turner 1982. There are more stories to be told – to add to Alison’s comprehensive volume: the rise and fall of the Cork Craftsmans Guild, establishing the West Cork Arts Centre, exhibitions in far-flung places including Zurich, enigmatic repousee work – as yet we can’t trace its history . . . But all that is for another day, once the Ballydehob Arts Museum (BAM) is under way.

Below, posters by Brian Lalor and Repousee work by Shirley Day.

So here’s yet another reason to come to West Cork! This ‘taster’ exhibition starts on 10 August and continues through Heritage Week and Ballydehob’s Summer Festival until 26 August. We have to commend our Community Council in Ballydehob who are giving us the space in Bank House – right in the town centre (the former AIB Bank building) which they acquired for the permanent enjoyment of the local community. Also we have benefitted from Cork County Council who have given us a grant under the Creative Ireland Programme to help get the whole project off the ground. And most of all we have to thank local people who have freely donated pieces for the permanent collection – all will be acknowledged when the Museum is up and running.

Bohemians in Ballydehob! opens at 6pm on Friday 10th August at Bank House, Ballydehob