Sculptor and teacher, born in Dumfries, Scotland, who remained close to his Scottish roots. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art and from 1965–75 lectured in sculpture there. He was invited to join the sculpture faculty of the British School at Rome in 1982, was a faculty visitor there in 1985, and from 1975–00 was director of sculpture at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee. Kempsell did much to promote sculpture in Scotland, being a director of Workshop and Artists’ Studio Provision; in 1978 he was one of the founders of the Scottish Sculpture Trust. He showed widely in Scotland and Britain, being featured in Small Sculpture from the Collection of The Scottish Arts Council, 1978, and in the Welsh Sculpture Trust’s 1983 show Sculpture in a Country Park, at Margam.