Sculptor and teacher, born in Neath, Glamorgan, who produced some of the finest modern carving on English ecclesiastical buildings, but died unknown to the general public. He gained his diploma in art and design, sculpture, at Gloucestershire College of Art, Cheltenham, then was offered a place at the Royal Academy Schools under Willi Soukop, but decided to leave when disturbed by loud music at night in his lodgings. A stubborn streak made him refuse family help to continue full-time studying. During a 1976 visit to Westminster Abbey he met the sculptor Arthur Ayres, who despatched Roberts to the City and Guilds of London Art School, where the principal, Roger de Grey, accepted him (giving him a pound to buy lunch). Roberts proved a distinguished student on the restoration course.
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After leaving in 1978 with his certificate in carving and gilding, he carved stone for two years at Westminster Abbey, also working on Wells Cathedral and Chichester market cross. In 1982, he returned to City and Guilds as a part-time teacher, where he proved inspirational. Roberts was an unworldly man, a voracious reader with a strong interest in religion and spirituality. Although he had only one solo exhibition, at Casson Gallery, Eastbourne, in 1989, his appearances in mixed exhibitions and membership of the RBS led to commissions; he showed at RA Summer Exhibition in 1995 and striking heads at SPS in 1999 and 2000. The commission for a figure of St Bartholomew at Failand Church, near Bristol, 1987, was followed by a tympanum in Portland stone at Woburn Abbey, 1991, awarded first prizes by the Stone Federation and the RIBA. He did extensive restoration work on Lincoln Cathedral, between 1989–96, and in 1998 carved life-size statues for the west front of Westminster Abbey, one model being the sculptor Silvia MacRae Brown, his companion of 14 years. Among later commissions was the 1999 Angel on the Green, Islington. Roberts died at Friston Forest, Sussex.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
