Stanley J. Watts is an American artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 and sculptor, mostly in life size bronzes

Bronze sculpture

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...

.

Biography

Watts was born in Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 and grew up in the city's Sugarhouse neighborhood. While attending Salt Lake's South High School

South High School (Salt Lake City)

South High School was a high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, which operated from 1931 to 1988. The school was located on the southern end of Salt Lake City proper, at 1575 S. State Street...

 he was already a noted artist, being recognized as a Sterling Scholar in art; the Sterling Scholar designation being one of Utah's highest academic recognitions for High school students. Watts went on to attend Utah State University

Utah State University

Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....

 in Logan, Utah

Logan, Utah

-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...

, but only to fail sculpture. After returning to Salt Lake City Watts was tutored by noted sculptor Dr. Avard Fairbanks

Avard Fairbanks

Avard Tennyson Fairbanks was a prolific 20th century American sculptor. Three of his sculptures are in the United States Capitol, and the state capitols in both Utah and Wyoming, as well as numerous other locations, also have his works...

. Watts has done many LDS Church related works, including a large bronze piece depicting Joseph and Hyrum Smith

Hyrum Smith

Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....

 on horseback; this statue is placed directly in front of the Nauvoo Illinois Temple

Nauvoo Illinois Temple

The Nauvoo Illinois Temple is the 113th dedicated temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the third such temple that has been built in Illinois ....

.

One of Watts' most famous pieces is entitled "To Lift a Nation", and is taken from the famous photo of New York City firefighters raising a flag over the collapsed World Trade Center site.