Kent William Roberts, Established Bay Area Artist, Dies At 72

Obituary submitted for publication by Cid Young:

Established Bay Area Artist and retired, long-time Exhibitions Design Manager of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Kent Roberts passed away on Sept. 11, 2019 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72. He is preceded in death by his parents Robert and Eloise Roberts, formerly of Albuquerque, New Mexico where Kent grew up. He was born on April 21, 1947 in Mineola, New York. He is also survived by other family members: His sisters, Gail Roberts (Bill Fields) of La Mesa, CA; Debbi (Greg) Jackson of Phoenix, AZ and nephews Blake and Paul Jackson and Travis Fields; Cousin Duane (Anne) Roberts of Los Altos, CA & Kelly Caudillo of Los Angeles, CA; Uncle John (Linda) Roberts of Greenwood Village, CO and his former wife of 39 years, "Cid" Carlysle Ann Young of Moss Beach, CA.

Kent will be remembered for his kind soul and easy-going manner by all who knew him. He led a vibrant life, graduating from high school in Albuquerque and then earning his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 1969 before enlisting in Officer Candidacy School and eventually serving in the US Navy as a Lt. JG, and deployed to the coast of Viet Nam aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Upon his return, he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute where, under the GI Bill, he earned both his BFA in 1974 and his MFA degree in 1976. Here, he met his future wife in the photography summer school class of Imogen Cunningham, Lisette Model and Ellen Brooks. He was a Teaching Assistant for Ursula Schneider, now a New York Artist and Printmaker. Kent and Cid were married in Duxbury, MA in June 1976.

In 1975, Kent assisted Artist Lowell Nesbitt in painting a naval history mural (251 feet long and 26 feet high) located on Treasure Island at the Museum. He was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1980 which helped him acquire a studio space which enabled him to create many sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings over the next decades. Kent ’s artwork is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, titled “Ms. Cid” 1998, and also 2 pieces at the diRosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa: “Half Scale” 1992 and “Broadcast” 1984, plus three public sculptures are featured locally in the Bay Area: “Passage” 2010 at Moscone Park; “Three Bridges” 1992 at 600 California Street, both commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission; as well as “Soaring Flight” 2008, commissioned by the City of San Jose Arts Program located at Evergreen Park in Eastern San Jose foothills. His piece “Surveillance” is on loan by Cid Young to the Orinda Public Library, and in 1999 he created a site-specific installation in Portland, Oregon “Seagoing” “Artic” and “Consultants” for ETEC Corporation. A bench, “Love Seat” was also displayed at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa in 2014 and is now in loan to Sonoma State University; He also designed a bench,”Untitled” in the lobby of the Louise & Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Learning & Resource Center at the City College of S.F. Library. He will be missed by family, neighbors, friends and by members the expansive Bay Area Art Community.