Watts Sculpts for the Ages

By Jeffrey Boutwell

Washington, D.C.

Sept. 15, 2025

Stan Watts, creator of the poignant bronze figure of President Abraham Lincoln signing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that will be dedicated on Sept. 22, thinks of himself as a “history keeper."

 A renowned sculptor of Americans with outsized impacts on our country, Watts seeks to imbue his bronzes with a sense of the meaning and purpose that his subjects brought to the American Experience.  Whether it’s Lincoln, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, or a “gone but not forgotten” American soldier, Watts knows his creations will touch and influence people for decades if not hundreds of years to come.  As he puts it, even the deep ocean floor can’t erase what a bronze statute is trying to tell us.

A life-long resident of Utah, Stan Watts at an early age knew he had an affinity for the visual arts rather than books and language.  Still, one of his formative experiences came after reading Black Like Me, the story of a white man who darkens his skin to see what it would be like to travel as a black man through the American south.  Watts was intrigued by how one might portray that concept visually.

Several decades later, Watts and his colleagues at Atlas Bronze Casting in Salt Lake City have produced iconic monuments illustrating the grandeur and pathos of American history.  Martin Luther King, Parks, and Ida B. Wells call upon the country to live up to its democratic ideals.  Sacagawea and the Navajo Code Talkers exemplify our country’s indigenous heritage.  Keller and Nikola Tesla represent incredible achievement despite tremendous odds.  Most evocative of all is the “Gone But Not Forgotten” memorial to an American GI fallen in combat, whose wife/mother/sister reaches out to touch his ethereal image.

The Lincoln statue to be dedicated in Washington will honor the more than 210,000 African American soldiers and sailors who fought for the Union during the Civil War, and whose enlistment was facilitated by the Emancipation Proclamation.  Watts designed a larger version of the memorial that’s located at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

In describing his work, Watts explains the importance of the statue showing the president “still in the process” of writing the proclamation.  The symbolism is intentional, Watts says, given that America is “still in the process” of constructing a genuine multi-racial democracy. 

Whether it’s refusing to give up your seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, giving voice to those demanding emancipation and freedom, or creating inspired monuments out of bronze, Stan Watts believes in “being responsible for what you do.” 

 We look forward to having him join us for the dedication ceremony starting at 11 am on Monday, September 22, at the African American Civil War Museum,1925 Vermont Ave., NW, in Washington, DC.   If you're in the D.C. area, stop by for the free outdoor program.

Photo by Ed Epstein