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ON THIS MONTH: ART<br />
friend offered him a house at Beards Place Farm.<br />
“It was a total wreck – it had been a care home for<br />
difficult boys and one of the rooms had been set<br />
on fire – but there was so much potential. Gradually<br />
he did it up – making many of the fixtures and<br />
fittings himself – and that became the inspiration<br />
for The Handmade House.”<br />
He refurbished spaces for studios; room to create<br />
his own work in ceramic, concrete and metal,<br />
as well as space for teaching pottery. “It became<br />
a real centre of creative activity,” explains Lucy,<br />
“enabling people to do better than they would on<br />
their own. He was a very good teacher. Patient<br />
and able to inspire those who were there for the<br />
love of making.”<br />
For many years Ralph participated in the AOH<br />
festival, filling the house and garden with his own<br />
work and that of his friends and students. Collaborating<br />
with local artists was one of his longterm<br />
passions; making pots inspired by their work<br />
for them to decorate. “When he was working with<br />
an artist, there was a lot of saying ‘yes’ to projects,”<br />
says the painter Chris Gilvan-Cartwright.<br />
“It was a real collaboration. It’s a rare thing,<br />
that openness to creativity. He made me feel<br />
like Picasso working at the Medora workshops.”<br />
Other collaborators included the painters Sophie<br />
Abbott and Gary Goodman – just two of many –<br />
both of whom had been working with Ralph as he<br />
planned to open the house again this <strong>May</strong>.<br />
Sadly, that won’t happen but there will be a<br />
chance to see his work. Lucy Greenaway and<br />
Kate Sherman have been collecting pots and<br />
photographs from across his career for an<br />
exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. A<br />
small celebration of his boundless creativity and<br />
generosity of spirit.<br />
“When you drove down the pathway to his place<br />
in Ditchling, you never knew what was going to<br />
happen,” recalls Chris Gilvan-Cartwright. “But<br />
you knew it was going to be something magical<br />
and exciting. And that is the greatest thing I’ll<br />
miss. He enabled the magic to happen. Very few<br />
people can do that.” Lizzie Lower<br />
Ralph Levy, Maker will be at Ditchling Museum<br />
from 4th <strong>May</strong> – 2nd June.<br />
Photos by Graham Carlow<br />
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