Kempton Dexter was born Digby, Nova Scotia. He studied art and biology at Acadia University where in 1973 he had his first solo painting exhibition. In Toronto 1977–‘82 he vigorously continued painting, making sculpture and began a 5-year apprenticeship as wood pattern maker.On Vancouver Island ‘82–‘83 he played and sang in dance bands, and produced and exhibited wood sculpture. In 1984 he settled in Vancouver and helped found
grunt gallery. His first solo show at grunt was Ya Work, Ya Eat in ‘85 and he remained active with the artist run gallery for the next 10 years. He exhibited consistently at venues around Vancouver during that period, including the Burnaby Art Gallery and large environmental works at the UBC research forest in Maple Ridge. He also performed original music and created theatre.
During the last 15 years, Kempton’s artistic focus has been music, theatre and writing. A number of CDs have been self-produced, including Other Women, Other Men and Dex and Nicky.A favourite hat is musical director for many plays including The Kenny Rogers Experience, One More for the Road, The Lost Supper, and Jacques and Awe.