Latino Sculptor Jesús Moroles Remembered

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1950, Jesús Bautista Moroles, the renowned Mexican American artist and sculptor, created a name for himself through his brilliant monumental abstract granite works. At the time of his sudden and tragic death in 2014, Moroles had completed more than 2,000 granite sculptures worldwide which have been included in over three hundred museum and gallery exhibitions.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Moroles was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush in 2008. He was one of the first Mexican American artists to receive this prestigious award.

Moroles, the eldest child in a family of six children, was just ten years old when his father José Moroles first recognized the spark of creativity in his son and enrolled young Jesús in art classes at the local YMCA. His father was a Mexican immigrant who worked in the cotton fields of South Texas, but he knew his son had talent.

Jesús Bautista Moroles with his father José Moroles at his Rockport studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

The family moved to Dallas in the late 1950s. Moroles grew up in the Dallas Oak Cliff neighborhood and attended the Sidney Lanier Expressive Arts Vanguard School in that city. In high school, he learned silk screening. He impressed his teachers with his work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit after he began to produce spirit items with his school logo. Moroles told an interviewer with the Smithsonian Museum of American Art that by the time he was in high school his fellow students were already buying his art.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Moroles’s summers were spent working with his uncle Julian Tapia on the construction of the Corpus Christi seawall. There the budding artist learned the rough language and tools of concrete work, laying the foundation to become a future sculptor. Then came the Vietnam War. Drafted by the U.S. Army, he decided to join the U.S. Air Force where he served for four years.

When Moroles returned home, he enrolled in art classes at El Centro College using his G.I. Bill benefits. He earned an associate’s degree from El Centro College and transferred to North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) where he studied sculpture. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1978.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

During an internship in 1978 with the celebrated Chicano artist Luis Jiménez, Moroles’s artistic path truly crystallized. Jiménez, known for his large colorful fiberglass sculptures, introduced Moroles to the idea that sculpture could be both monumental and intimate. Although Jiménez worked with synthetic materials, the lessons of form, dimension, and daring that he learned from Jimenez stayed with Moroles.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, Art Museum of South Texas. Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

In 1979, Moroles traveled to Tuscany, Italy, lured by the legends of Michelangelo and the Pietrasanta marble quarries. He hoped to connect with the Renaissance spirit and soul of stone carving. Instead, he found disappointment. Moroles discovered that Michelangelo’s muse–the famous Carrara marble–was too soft for the large sculptures he envisioned. Moroles craved something tougher, something that pushed back.

Jesús Bautista Moroles in his Rockport studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Upon his return from Italy, Moroles moved to Waxahachie, Texas where he rented space in a stone carver’s factory. He moved to Rockport in 1983 to live near his family and built a massive studio on a three-acre lot in Rockport, not far from his hometown of Corpus Christi.

Moroles acquired red granite from central Texas and transported it to Rockport by railroad cars and 18-wheeler trucks. In his large outdoor studio, Moroles created masterpieces from one of the hardest stones on the planet. Using diamond saws and power tools, Moroles shaped his first granite piece, Fountain, blending water and stone in a powerful dialogue of natural elements.

Jesús Bautista Moroles at his Rockport studio office. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Moroles’s commission for the CBS Plaza in New York City–Lapstrake, a 64-ton, 22-foot tall sculpture—placed him on the national map. The sculpture’s layered, overlapping slabs evoked the ancient boat-building methods of the Vikings and Tang Chinese. Photographer Wally Gobetz commented, “Moroles's sculpture is made of perfectly rectangular slats that bisect two formless columns–-geometry meeting amorphousness.”

Jesús Bautista Moroles cutting marble with a diamond blade at his Rockport studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Among Moroles’s best known work is Granite Weaving (1988), a majestic piece that mimics the texture of Mexican or Native American textiles, carved from unyielding Georgia gray granite. The sculpture, completed in 1988, is a spectacular work of cut stone measuring over six feet high and nine feet wide.

Upon seeing the Granite Weaving sculpture in Washington, D.C. several years ago, I was amazed at this extraordinary creation. Moroles succeeded in making stone look like Mexican or Native American weaving. A description in the gallery label for the work reads, “Although he [Moroles] spoke in terms of fabric, Granite Weaving also reads as the wall of a stepped pyramid in which horizontal stone slabs support, and in turn are buttressed by small blocks of granite.” The Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired Granite Weaving in 1996.

Nowhere is Moroles’s imagination and skill more evident than in his 1990 masterpiece, the Houston Police Officers Memorial. Designed as a granite pyramid rising from the earth and surrounded by inverted pyramids carved into the ground, the Police Memorial is at once solemn and transcendent. The memorial is laid out in the form of a 120-foot by 120-foot Greek cross, with a central stepped pyramid rising high at its center. Surrounding this central structure are four inverted stepped pyramids. Moroles’ design integrates natural elements, such as grass and water, into the geometric pattern, creating a serene and contemplative space within the city.

Peter C. Marzio of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts noted, “More often than not, Moroles’s sculptures seem as though they are descended from the works of ancient mound builders, sawed and carved and blasted from the earth.” The Police Memorial is regarded as one of Houston’s most important landmarks. Today, this memorial has become a popular gathering place for residents from the nearby Buffalo Bayou neighborhoods.

By the early 2000s, Moroles’s reputation as an extraordinary sculptor had spread far beyond Texas. His works are displayed in major museums across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. From Washington D.C. to the Middle East, his granite sculptures stand as monuments not just to artistic prowess, but to cultural memory. His art combines North American abstraction with the architectural spirit of ancient Mesoamerica, forging a dialogue between past and present.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, Rockport studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

In Moroles’s Rockport studio, surrounded by large cranes, huge slabs of granite, and the whirr of stone-cutting machines, Harriett and I had the pleasure of seeing this artist at work. The huge rustic studio was nearly all outdoors. We were amazed at the collection of large uncut granite rock scattered all about the studio. At the studio, we met Moroles’s father, a sister,a brother and a brother-in-law–his management team at the studio. At the time, Moroles had been commissioned to complete sculptures in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Moroles’s death in 2014 was a huge loss for the art community in Texas and beyond. His stone sculptures recognized across the globe continue the Moroles legacy, and celebrate his commitment to cultural memory and Latino and Indigenous persistence.

Jesús Bautista Moroles, Rockport studio. Photo by Ricardo Romo.