Students help model 14 ft. figure of St Sidwell at Bideford School of Art

Sculptor Fred Irving and Joyce Gilbert and Peter Harvey, students of Bideford School of Art are seen here working on a nearly thrice-life-size figure of St Sidwell, a Westcountry Celtic saint of the seventh century. The figure, commissioned by an Exeter firm of architects, is part of a panel that will measure 20 ft by 15 ft and will enrich with mediaeval colour a large new multiple store building with exterior surfaces of black brick, grey tiles, glass and silvered metal. The panel is designed by Mr Irving and modelled first in local clay, about one ton. The 14 ft-high figure will then be cast in coloured resin-bonded glass-fibre.

This is the largest project to be undertaken by the sculpture department of the School of Art, whose recent projects include the figure of St Anne for a Barnstaple building society; the new “Welcome to Torrington” signs and the lettering and sign for the newly-opened Bideford centre.

Gazette article dated 20 June 1969