Alumnus Dr. Stan Moroz [BSc/65, MD/69] transforms thousands of screws into a textured tribute to Bison spirit.
For Dr. Stan Moroz, his connections to the University of Manitoba run deep, though these days, they are held together with thousands of drywall screws.
A double alumnus of the University of Manitoba [BSc/65, MD/69], Moroz built a distinguished medical career as a pediatric gastroenterologist, spending decades caring for children, teaching undergrads and postgraduates, and practicing as full-time staff at Children's Hospital in Winnipeg.
Yet after retiring from medicine, Moroz decided he wanted to do something a little different after retiring.
“I decided that when I retired, I wasn't going to stick around with medicine... I wanted to do something totally different," says Moroz. Initially filling his time researching genealogy for family and friends, he discovered an unexpected second calling in a Palm Springs art gallery in 2018: 3D screw art.
What began as curiosity quickly turned into a hobby, blending intellectual design with hands-on work.
While Moroz's portfolio spans over 65 intricate pieces, many of which include neighbourhood pets and sports logos and famous pop culture icons, a handful of pieces pay tribute to his own family's UM connection.
When the university unveiled the refreshed Bison Sports logo in September 2025, his son-in-law, Craig Hillier, a PhD candidate at the university commissioned him to transform the new icon into a three-dimensional work of art and gifted it to the university department.
Moroz has since recreated the first piece expanding the artwork from just the determined face of the bison to include the full logo, as well as re-creating the university’s shield as a screw art intasllation. The latter of which he created as a tribute to his granddaughter, who graduated with the same degree as her grandfather some 60 years later.
“When I saw the screw art stuff, I thought, oh, this, this is an interesting change,” says Moroz. While genealogy involved his intellectual side, screw art brought a new dimension to keeping busy, keeping him sharp mentally and physically – as drilling thousands of screws into his elaborate patterns requires precision and dexterity.
“It’s the academic exercise [I like] –thinking through, how would I do this? And, and how am I going to place the screws so that the image comes to life the way I think I'd like it to?” says Moroz. “And, you know, there are often changes in my initial thinking."
“And then there's the physical part of it where putting it all together.”
Moroz follows a complex and painstaking process when beginning a new design. He starts with a reference photograph to map out the outline of the artwork and determine the precise placement of every screw.
He then transfers the template onto a half-inch MDF board.
“I mark where the holes are going to be drilled. Each hole is drilled one at a time, and then it goes from there,” says
To achieve signature texture and depth, he incorporates screws of varying head sizes and lengths. Each screw is individually painted after installation to prevent the paint from chipping during construction.
While smaller projects can take anywhere from two hours to a few days, recreating the intricate lines of the Bisons logo was an ambitious undertaking which took approximately 70 hours to complete. Despite the lengthy process, Moroz is always excited to see his pieces come to life.
“I get to a point where I could hardly wait to see it finished,” says Moroz. “Not because I'm tired of it, it's just that it's exciting [to see it finished].”
The University of Manitoba is proud to be the alma mater to Bisons who are at the centre of advancing national and international conversations, and action on issues that matter.
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