Simon Verity


Simon Verity is a British sculptor and master stonecarver. Much of his work has been garden sculpture. He has works in the private collections of the Prince of Wales, Sir Elton John, and Lord Rothschild.

Career

Verity received his training through the architectural practice of Oliver Hill and through Robert Baker's teaching at Wells Cathedral.
A 1988 memorial by Verity for the writer Sophie Behrens was the catalyst for the creation of Memorials by Artists - an organization dedicated to the creation of unique memorials.
From 1988 until 1997 Verity worked as Director on the carving of the West Portal of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York also known as the Portal of Paradise. At the start, Verity was assisted by six apprentices. In 1993, Jean-Claude Marchionni, a master stonecarver from France, joined Verity in the project. A procession of 32 matriarchs and patriarchs from the Old and New Testaments were carved from blocks of limestone already in place.
In 2004 Verity was commissioned to design and build a hand-carved map of the United Kingdom to form the paving for the British Memorial Garden in New York's Hanover Square. The Garden commemorates the 67 British victims of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. The map features all the counties of Great Britain, as well as the boroughs of London and British Islands and protectorates. The map is carved from grey flagstone from Caithness and sandstone from Moray, Scotland.
In January 2015 Verity visited Duke University for a 10-day residency during which he recreated the Head of a virtue - a 1245 sculpture from Notre-Dame Cathedral that is now in the collection of the Nasher Museum of Art.

Works

Other works include: