Jesús Moroles, whose premature death in 2015 ended a widely-celebrated career as one of the world’s finest, most accomplished and creative sculptors working in granite, brought to life dynamic fine art from stone. In the process he created unique forms and breathtaking public installations that brought him international fame and established his place in American art history as one of the most esteemed master sculptors of his generation. “His sculptures are signs of life that remind us of our responsibility to respect the past, to manage the present, and to build the future… He [was] motivated by a humanistic impulse to create [sculptures] that elevate the human spirit” said the late Peter C. Marzio, former director of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts writing in Moroles: Granite and Sculpture, the major monograph published about Moroles’s work.Moroles was described as a “shaman of stones.” He believed every stone had a soul and that his mission was to liberate it while leaving its heart, its ‘truth’, intact. Moroles’ stereotomy was a craft of mathematical and technical precision involving powerful diamond saws and pinpoint accuracy. Through careful craft and design, he was able to make dense and unforgiving granite appear malleable, light and expressive.Substantial and yet elegant and subtle when viewed as pure sculpture, some of Moroles' creations, such as this “Musical Stele”, may also be "played" as musical instruments. The tower in black granite might resemble a modern high-rise apartment house, divided by thin, horizontal cuts that look like balconies when viewed from a distance. But run a rounded river rock over the "balconies," and the stele is transformed into a xylophone of sorts, resembling forms made thousands of years ago and emitting a scale of eerily melodic notes.Throughout his career, Moroles achieved international renown as a master sculptor of large scale abstract granite works and was a recipient of the United States National Medal of Arts in 2008, the 2007 Texas Medal of the Arts Award for Visual Arts, and was the 2011 Texas State Artist for three-dimensional work. In 1985, Moroles received a National Endowment for the Arts Matching Grant for an environmental installation of 45 sculptural elements and fountains for the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama. The Houston Police Officers Memorial is his largest sculpture: an earthen stepped pyramid that also extends below ground level in a mirror of the ascending extrusions. Moroles' work has been included in over 130 one-person exhibitions and over 200 group exhibitions. His art can be found in museum and public as well as private collections in countries around the world including China, Egypt, France, Italy, Mexico and Switzerland. Moroles was born in 1950 in Corpus Christi, TX, and raised in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. Moroles began selling his artwork as early in his life as elementary school. In 1978 he earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of North Texas, where he was later honored as a Distinguished Alumnus. He served four years in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War before setting off to study sculpture in Italy in 1980. Upon returning to the United States, Moroles began constructing the gargantuan granite pieces that brought him international renown, and continued to produce prolifically on both small and large scales up until his death in 2015. On June 15, 2015 Moroles was killed in an automobile accident. At the time of his death, he was leading a student internship program at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, where he had been artist-in-residence and primary designer for the university's Coming Together Park.