Karl Quilter

Birth and Early Life

“Karl, don’t ever paint again,” his teacher told him after seeing what the young artist could do.“Sculptor’s Works Top Temple Towers Worldwide.” Ensign, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Apr. 2006.

Latter-day Saint Mission

Education

Sculpture at the U of U

Upon returning home, Karl Quilter attended the University of Utah with a scholarship in sculpture.^[12]Biographical interview With Karl Quilter, 18 March 1992, by Fred Roe, via: Roe, Frederick Robert 1920-. Angels: Moroni and his associates / Fred Roe [Bountiful, Utah]: The Author, 1992 May 1992 printing, p 49. (accessed: 5 September 5 2018) While working on his degree in Sculpture he had the opportunity to be mentored by Avard Fairbanks.^[13]Biographical interview With Karl Quilter, 18 March 1992, by Fred Roe, via: Roe, Frederick Robert 1920-. Angels: Moroni and his associates / Fred Roe [Bountiful, Utah]: The Author, 1992 May 1992 printing, p 49. (accessed: 5 September 5 2018) (This would have been in the early 1950’s prior to Avard being chosen to sculpt the Angel Moroni Statue for the Washington D. C. Temple.) Karl was found to be very talented student, and after the first year was moved to an advanced class, where he was able to assist in instruction for other classes.^[14]Biographical interview With Karl Quilter, 18 March 1992, by Fred Roe, via: Roe, Frederick Robert 1920-. Angels: Moroni and his associates / Fred Roe [Bountiful, Utah]: The Author, 1992 May 1992 printing, p 49. (accessed: 5 September 5 2018) Near the end of his schooling, a fellow student asked Karl what he would like to do in life. Even then, Brother Quilter knew, he told his classmate that someday he wanted to sculpt an Angel Moroni statue for a temple.^[15]Biographical interview With Karl Quilter, 18 March 1992, by Fred Roe, via: Roe, Frederick Robert 1920-. Angels: Moroni and his associates / Fred Roe [Bountiful, Utah]: The Author, 1992 May 1992 printing, p 49. (accessed: 5 September 5 2018)

Industrial Design at the U of U

Quilter earned a second degree while at the University of Utah. He studied Industrial Design, a study that introduced him to new materials. While there he began his experiments with casting statues in Fiberglass.^[16]Stecklein, Janelle. “Utah Sculptor of Mormon Angel Moroni Statues Dies at 84.” The Salt Lake Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune, 13 Dec. 2013. 

Educator

Brother Quilter would go on to further his education at Brigham Young.^[17]“Sculptor’s Works Top Temple Towers Worldwide.” Presumably this was so that he could start his career as a Seminary Teacher.

You may have noticed at this point that pretty much all the Sculptors who have worked on Angle statues had other jobs as well as sculpting. In most cases, this was teaching. In the case of Karl Quilter, he chose to teach the religion that he loved and grew up with. Brother Quilter, known to his later students as ‘the notorious “B.Q.,”’^[18]“Obituary: QUILTER, KARL.” taught Seminary for many years at Highland High School, West High School, and Olympus High School.^[19]“LDS Sculptor Leaves Lasting Legacy.” Church News and Events, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 5 Dec. 2013.

Work for the Church

Bern Switzerland, London England, and Hamilton New Zealand

Round about 1954, Millard Malin invited Karl to come and assist him,^[20]Biographical interview With Karl Quilter, 18 March 1992, by Fred Roe, via: Roe, Frederick Robert 1920-. Angels: Moroni and his associates / Fred Roe [Bountiful, Utah]: The Author, 1992 May 1992 printing, p 49. (accessed: 5 September 5 2018) along with a few others, in sculpting some oxen for the Bern Switzerland Temple. Karl was in his early twenties at the time. The job took several months, and once completed, casts of these new oxen were created for the Bern Switzerland, London England, and Hamilton New Zealand Temples.^[21]Sculptor’s Works Top Temple Towers Worldwide. The first-time multiple copies of a single set of oxen had been used at multiple temples. This predates the first-time multiple copies of Angel statues were used as well.

Brother Quilter and LaVar Wallgren had already been doing some work together when the Church contacted Brother Quilter about doing an Angel Moroni Statue.

Angel Moroni

Another larger statue was created by him in the late 1980’s, and eventually a third, mid-sized Angel Moroni was crafted in the late 1990’s. All told, there are only 13 Angel Moroni Statues on Temples, out of almost 160, which are not replicas of one of Quilter’s three designs.

Quilter’s three statues are often mistaken for one statue, or at best, three different sizes of one statue. But each statue is different with a unique pose.

Oxen

Nativity

Later in life, Quilter would serve another mission for the Church, this time for the Temple Department. The call was to sculpt a nativity scene for the Church that has been replicated and distributed to most temples in the world.^[28]Rosner, Jannalee. “‘Super Moroni’ Statue Almost Appeared on Nauvoo Temple, Sculptor’s Son Recalls.” LDS Living, 27 Oct. 2016. This white three-piece nativity set consists of a central Piece depicting Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a family group. The other two pieces of the nativity are a kneeling donkey, and a kneeling pair ewe with her lamb.

Other Work

Karl Quilter did do other pieces besides the work he did for the Church. In 1987, during the centennial celebration for Ricks College (now BYU Idaho) A “heroic size statue” of the schools Viking mascot was placed in the Hart Building on campus. The statue was placed upon a rotating base, and would face the stadium for football games, and the arena for basketball games.^[29]Crowder, David L. “THE SPIRIT of RICKS: A HISTORY of RICKS COLLEGE.” Chapter 19, RICKS COLLEGE. Another piece Quilter is known for is that of a modern take on a shepherd, a cowboy hat on his head and a dog at his side, carrying a lost sheep.^[30]Rosner, Jannalee. “‘Super Moroni’ Statue Almost Appeared on Nauvoo Temple, Sculptor’s Son Recalls.” LDS Living, 27 Oct. 2016. One of the earliest commercial works Quilter did was a sculpture known as the “The Release of Aphrodite,” a sculpture created for a health Spa in Philadelphia.^[31]Dibble, Gregory. “Paper Shortage May Chalk up a Gain for Artist.” The Salt Lake Tribune, 30 Dec. 1973, p. E3.

Brother Quilter also did a commission that stands across the street from the Utah State Capital. The piece is, a bronze statue of a widow and her young son leaving behind the grave of a small daughter, is on the grounds of the Pioneer Museum and was commissioned by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.^[32]“President James E. Faust Dedicates New Monument to Pioneer Women.” Ensign, March 2002.

Famous Works by Karl Quilter

Angel Moroni Submission Washington D.C. Temple	Church Archives	1970’s
Assembly hall tower cupolas	Salt Lake Temple Square	1981
Angel Moroni, 7 ft.	90+ Temples worldwide	1982
Angel Moroni, 10 ft.	50+ Temples worldwide	1985
Angel Moroni 6 ft. 10 in	Nauvoo Illinois, Reno Nevada, Manhattan New York	1997
3 pc Nativity	Various Temples worldwide	2000’s