Roger Edwards: The Rough with the Smooth

Roger Edwards came to Worthing in 1979 to work as a consultant anaesthetist in Worthing & Southlands hospitals. Throughout his life he has had a great interest in art and has tried his hand at different media. He also instituted and ran the Worthing Hospital Art Project, ably assisted by his wife, until his retirement.

Having retired, he took up the challenge of stone sculpture having been gifted a sculpture course at East Dean by his colleagues. His subject matter has frequently been the lower forms of life reflecting his childhood fascination with insects & other small creatures. He is particularly impressed by the ability of different stones to take on different textures and colours depending on the degree of finishing, hence he Rough with the Smooth.

Stone work includes marble, Kilkenny limestone, Ancaster limestone, Cornish polyphant and alabaster.

He finds the creative process to be quite addictive with ideas arriving in the small hours and he has been known to visit the workshop at 3am in case the inspiration has disappeared by the morning.

His subject matter sometimes reflects a degree of humour making everyday objects out of a seemingly inappropriate medium. He is pleased that people are drawn to touch his sculptures whereas they would be unwilling to caress the real thing.