Chapters:
00:01 Intro
00:33 Meet Timothy Schmalz: Sculptor of Homeless Jesus
02:36 Discovering Sculpture and Choosing Christian Art
06:10 From Artistic Crisis to Vocation
15:58 Sculpting as Prayer and Evangelization
27:31 Telling Stories Through Saints and the Gospel
35:26 The Global Impact of Homeless Jesus
38:37 Realism and Public Reactions
41:10 A Visual Translation of Scripture
42:22 Global Installations of Homeless Jesus
47:07 The Last Supper Table at St. John Paul II Academy
57:30 Celebrating Life Through Art
1:12:03 Legacy and the Future of Catholic Art
1:12:50 Outro
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In this episode of Catholic Education Matters, host Troy Van Vliet chats with Timothy Schmalz, a world-renowned Canadian sculptor celebrated for his spiritually profound and deeply moving religious works, including the internationally recognized Homeless Jesus. Schmalz recounts his early fascination with sculpting, his brief time at the Ontario College of Art, and the artistic crisis that led him to reject shock-value art in favor of creating works with eternal meaning rooted in the Gospel. He explains how he came to dedicate his entire career to Christian themes, believing that great art requires epic subject matter and should communicate truths that move the soul.
Throughout the conversation, he shares insights on his process—treating his studio as a chapel, working obsessively for decades, and allowing scripture and the Holy Spirit to inspire breakthroughs in his pieces. Schmalz describes how sculptures can act as silent preachers, telling powerful stories without words, drawing people closer to faith, and even sparking conversions. From portraying saints like Padre Pio in striking and unconventional ways, to works on human trafficking, to pieces that challenge viewers with the raw demands of the Gospel such as loving one’s enemy, his art seeks to both comfort and confront. With reflections on the permanence of sculpture compared to fleeting media, Schmalz emphasizes how religious art can serve as a lasting witness, making visible the often-overlooked presence of Christ in the world.
Transcript:
[00:00:01] Intro: Welcome to Catholic Education Matters, the podcast that celebrates the beauty of Catholic education, highlighting excellence in academics, athletics, and the transformative power of faith. Join us as we share the stories of those making a lasting impact on Catholic education. Let’s begin.
[00:00:25] Troy Van Vliet: Good day, everyone, and welcome to Catholic Education Matters. My name is Troy Van Vliet, and I am very excited and enthused today to have mister Timothy Schmaltz, a world renowned Canadian sculptor with us here. And we’re gonna be talking about some of his artwork. And, Tim, welcome to Catholic Education Matters.
[00:00:48] Timothy Schmalz: Well, thank you. I’m I’m very happy to be here and take a break from sculpting and talk about artwork.
[00:00:54] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, I can’t wait to get into it here with you today because we got we have so many fun things to talk about. And I wanna do I wanna just give all of our listeners and viewers here a quick background on you, if I may. So if I could just take a minute. I’m I’m gonna read something off because I wanna make sure I don’t forget anything. So but, Tim is a world renowned Canadian sculptor known for his deeply moving and spiritually profound religious artwork.
[00:01:22] His sculptures often large in scale and rich in symbolism are designed to inspire reflection, compassion, and faith. Tim’s most famous artwork, the homeless the homeless Jesus, has been installed in cities around the globe, including at the Vatican. His art powerfully communicates gospel values without the need for words, inviting contemplation through visual storytelling. That is so true. He has created sculptures honoring the lives of saints, scenes from the passion, and other sacred moments in Christian history.
[00:01:58] Many of his works are used in schools, churches, and public spaces to elevate the imagination and soul towards God. Tim has had the unique privilege of meeting Pope John Paul the second, and his art has been blessed by multiple pontiffs. His upcoming installation at SJP two, our school, in Vancouver presents a time a timely opportunity to explore the intersection of art, education, and spiritual formation, making him a meaningful and unique guest for Catholic Education Matters. Once again, welcome, Tim.
[00:02:35] Timothy Schmalz: Well, thank you.
[00:02:36] Troy Van Vliet: Thank you. So let’s get into it. First of all, so how long have you been sculpting? How did you get into this? What’s your what’s your story with that?
[00:02:48] Timothy Schmalz: It’s a very interesting story, and I’ll try to be brief on it. Since I was a teenager, I loved sculpture. I loved it. And there was something magnetic about it. There was something so physical about it and so real about the idea of sculpture specifically.
[00:03:11] And I’m I I think early on, I had the attraction to material things. And when you can actually, as a child, invent or create the material things you want without asking your mother for them, it’s a great, great key. And so I remember sometimes I would wish and wish I would have this little toy, and I I discovered that I could instantly get it by actually sculpting it or even drawing it and cutting out the drawing. And so I I I I was at an early age, like, even even preteenager in love with the idea of artwork, and and that’s kind of akin to being a very, I think, a very physical person and the idea of wanting to own things, wanting to possess things, part of human nature. And so when I got older, when I was 16, I did one sculpture at high school that was like, oh my god.
[00:04:16] I wanna do this the rest of my life. Ironically, it was a a man sleeping with kind of a Dante like dream demon coming down, but it was such a beautiful, execution at that age of 16. And I fell in love with with the idea of working with, sculpture. Move on to one year later, although I was baptized as a Catholic, I really felt I had a conversion experience when I was 17. And I grew up in a very secular, very secular, very art filled, family, but, Christianity was very much minimalized.
[00:04:57] But I had this conversion experience that made me absolutely identify as a Christian at that point. And like I mentioned before, even though I was baptized, Catholic, it was very soft, soft surroundings I was in. Mhmm. And so, just put that aside for a minute. 1819, I’m obsessed with doing artwork.
[00:05:23] I’m, reading books on artwork in my spare time. I basically squeezed by high school with the only, real good mark was basically my art class. But that that mark led me to, be accepted to the Ontario College of Art, which is was actually at the time the most prestigious art school in Canada. And I also at that time, my last year of high school, I won a national sculpting prize, first prize for one of my sculptures. So I was, like, totally, totally excited, and I am going to pursue this desire of mine to be a sculptor.
[00:06:08] I get to Ontario College of Art. I last three months. I drop out. I I go through, the best way I can call it is, an artistic crisis. I thought, what the hell am I doing with my life?
[00:06:26] I’m pursuing. I’m chasing these ideas that are shocking for the sake of shocking. I was basically, looped into the idea that in order to be an artist, you actually have to do something absolutely radical. And during that time, you’re talking about artists that would do sculptures and art installations with blood, and then they were getting attention because it was real blood. Or, oh, let’s do a a sculpture of a man with crap, and it would get attention because it’s real crap.
[00:07:05] And I’m like, I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life doing this. Right?
[00:07:10] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. I don’t Yeah.
[00:07:11] Timothy Schmalz: It’s not worth sacrificing someone’s life. I knew I was essentially an obsessive person, and I thought, what a silly waste of a life if this is what I’m going to do with it. Right? So I was at this artistic crisis. I was kinda dropped out or I was kicked out of Ontario College of Art, and I got a job.
[00:07:35] Went back to my hometown in Elmira, got a job working in a factory cutting fabric. And that’s in a sense where reality really hit me because the idea of, what do I wanna do the rest of my life was staring at me straight in the face because here I was with people that were, you know, for their whole life working at a factory. Right? And you wanna hear a little weird thing? That factory was in my that factory was in my hometown, Elmira, which I’m in right now.
[00:08:10] And, actually, my studio here
[00:08:15] Troy Van Vliet: is No. That’s not the factory.
[00:08:17] Timothy Schmalz: That factory. Wow. It’s in ’19. It was so weird because it’s a it’s a big old building, and, I love old old factories as studios because there’s a lot of light in it, a lot of character. So I went up here.
[00:08:36] I’m like, wait a minute. This used to be Park Avenue Fabrics. And I said, yep. Not much has changed. So, you know, what what’s really weird is sometimes I think about being here 19 cutting fabric in this very room.
[00:08:50] I’m actually using the big tables that were left here, to put my sculptures on. But I thought if God had a sense of humor when I was 19 and I was in a massive crisis, I remember looking out, actually, one of those windows over there when it was springtime and thinking, if I don’t leave this factory, I’m going to be 55 years old in the same room. Why I’m in the same room? And a god had a great opportunity to make a in his godlike voice, Tim,
[00:09:22] Troy Van Vliet: you’re going
[00:09:22] Timothy Schmalz: to meet you when you’re 50. And I would say, no. No. No. And then he would say, wait a minute.
[00:09:28] It will be your studio. So, anyway, I left OCA, got a job working in a a fabric company, cutting fabric, and then I just realized I have to start doing my artwork. I went over to I I went back to Toronto, got my first studio at 19, and I started sculpting. The key is I changed what I was sculpting. My studio, although it closed at Ontario College of Art, became the great masters.
[00:10:00] I was looking at books. I was looking at the the artists that that really impressed me as a child, Da Vinci, Michelangelo. And the key was, at this time, I realized that the reason why their artwork was awesome was because what they were representing. And that’s what was never taught, and it’s very rarely taught at school, at art school. Right?
[00:10:28] It’s always develop a style, develop a u something very, very unique. It didn’t say that artwork is just a form of propaganda. It didn’t say that artwork is just a tool for for for for communicating, that you’re trying to promote something. And no matter what you’re doing with artwork, you’re making a message. And so you better have a good message to go from, or you’re not gonna have a good piece of artwork.
[00:11:00] And so what I realized early on is that in order to have an epic piece of artwork, you need an epic subject matter. And I’ll give you an example here. If you take the Sistine Chapel ceiling
[00:11:12] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:11:13] Timothy Schmalz: And change the subject to picnic in Paris, it’s not going to be a great piece of artwork even though you got the same skill set, you got the same colors, You got the same ceiling. Picnic with Paris would not bring in millions and millions of people. The reason why the pieda, Michelangelo’s pieda, is awesome is not because the slab of marble that he used, although it was a good one, not because of skill, although he was skillful. It’s because of the subject matter. And then I realized that it’s all about the subject matter.
[00:11:53] And the other, the people that told me throughout my my my adolescence and teenage years, develop a style. Develop a style. What I realized is I don’t want a style. A great piece of artwork, the style will disappear. Ideally, if I do a sculpture, they won’t even know it’s a sculpture.
[00:12:16] They will just see it what I’m being, representing there, what I’m what I’m what I’m trying to bring people’s attention to. And and it’s almost like, you have a a a passage of scripture. And if you can make your sculpture so transparent that you don’t even see it, but you see the scripture, that’s a good piece of artwork. And and so and if you’re under that idea that you have to comb through the world and find the great things that need to be represented and then represent them as authentic as possible, with as little of you in it and as much of the subject matter, it’s gonna be a great piece of artwork.
[00:13:09] Troy Van Vliet: Right. So it’s
[00:13:09] Timothy Schmalz: And so this is what I learned at that age. So I stopped doing anything but Christian artwork when I was 20. I refused to do anything else. I did my first, crucifixion, and I was so blown away by it. I decided that this is what I’m gonna do the rest of my life.
[00:13:27] In fact, I was I was the most radical. Ironically, they were teaching me to be radical at art school. Yeah. And I was the most radical artist because people didn’t even consider what I did artwork. It wasn’t even artwork, but that’s how I knew I was doing something great.
[00:13:45] Troy Van Vliet: Wow. So how long have you been producing these Christian pieces then? How how old were you then when you started doing it?
[00:13:54] Timothy Schmalz: I was was 20 years old. I’m 55 Wow. Right now. And so I had done nothing but. And, also, I’ve been working.
[00:14:03] Like, usually, I work, I wake up at four or five in the morning. I start sculpting, and I do this seven days a week. And so it’s almost like, you know, you have dog years and people’s years, while you also have obsessive sculptor years. And so in a sense, if you would say that throughout my whole life, and you take the amount of hours I spent on it, I’ve been sculpting for a hundred years.
[00:14:34] Troy Van Vliet: Wow.
[00:14:34] Timothy Schmalz: Which is great. So so, basically, what happens is I can I can come, I can have a lot of, chances to hit that masterpiece, to to find the the the or to untie the knot on how to represent a saint or a scripture because I put little value, little currency on my hours? And if I did, then then I would be missing quite a bit of things. See, the idea is I think that if you’re doing a piece of artwork, you never know, how it will come to you. It’s like Saint Francis of Assisi where you’re just an instrument of God’s peace.
[00:15:20] Mhmm. And and the idea of the instrument is very good. I think a perfect analogy for artwork. And so the more pieces that you do, the more you’re you’re not afraid of throwing yourself completely at it, the the better your chances are of getting a real cool, amazing sculpture out of it. And, the perfect example that I can give just quickly is the human trafficking sculpture.
[00:15:46] I was, the Vatican asked me to do a sculpture on Saint Paquita on the theme of human trafficking. So I started this piece, and it was victims of human trafficking in a slave cart. And so I was working on this in this studio just over there. I was working on it for week in, week out. It was really developing.
[00:16:05] It was really looking good. And then one night, I went and I researched, like I did throughout the whole process. I’ve researched on human trafficking. I was so so depressed and shocked at what specifically I read that evening, I went back to my studio, and I said to myself, they’re sucking our children underground. And the moment I I, that that that idea of what human trafficking is is it’s sucking our children underground.
[00:16:38] I had the idea of having Saint Paquita lifting up the ground and letting the oppressed go free, letting the the the the the victims of human trafficking out from the underground. And I thought about doing this as a sculpture, and then I thought, man, that is epic. That is what I should be doing for I shouldn’t be doing a slave cart. I shouldn’t be doing human traffic people put in a little cart. I should have been coming out of the ground and Saint Saint Paquita being the hero.
[00:17:13] And then I said, well, you’ve already spent two weeks on this first concept. Let’s just keep working on the first concept. And I just realized that I had to say, well, forget about the two weeks. If I keep working on this, I’m gonna deprive myself of doing the better piece, so I trashed it. And I was, like, two weeks of my life gone.
[00:17:35] Right? But I had to do that in order for the new piece to come in. And
[00:17:40] Troy Van Vliet: Just a stepping stone. Right? Yeah.
[00:17:41] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. And so it’s often often like that in in a studio where, if I have an idea, I’ll throw myself at it to see what it looks like. And so I also take it as part of a ritual. And in my studio here, I perceive it kinda being like a chapel, right, where I’m I’m creating pieces, and part of that process is the spiritual. And the end result, great.
[00:18:08] You could have an end result. That’s wonderful, and you might not. But the whole process is part a part of part of the the experience or or the prayer, so to speak. Right? And so one of the things that I’ve done to further that is always have, the bible or scripture plain.
[00:18:31] I’ll make I’ll I’ll I’ll kind of shuffle in Saint Thomas, Sequana, city Of God, some Chesterton, and everything like that, but my go to here for the sound in the studio is, the sound of scripture. And so I try to bring up certain things in my ritual here that makes it possible for for, in a sense, the holy spirit to get through one of these windows and come in here and land on one of my sculptures. And I’ve had experiences like that after after the ninth hour or at 04:30 in the morning, something great comes. And it wouldn’t have come if it was at 9AM that I got here. No.
[00:19:15] It happens at 04:30, or it happens at 05:00 when I’m exhausted. Something great comes comes to mind. Right? A eureka moment, so to speak.
[00:19:24] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah. That that is, that is amazing, the story. Like, I and I can’t even in this in this, quote, hundred years of sculpting that you’ve been that you’ve been doing, how many do you think, let’s say, commercial type sculptures you’ve produced that because when I see them, I think, like, I can’t even imagine how much work has gone into it, how much time it must take to produce, one of these sculptures. How many do you think you’ve done?
[00:20:01] Timothy Schmalz: No clue. No clue.
[00:20:02] Troy Van Vliet: No clue?
[00:20:04] Timothy Schmalz: Really, I I I actually stumble across some of the pieces that I completely forgot that I created. But one of the wonderful one of one of the wonderful things about that is each piece that I do over the years, I develop, in a sense, a library of different ideas that develop over time. And part of the thing that I’m very much concerned about is using the pieces as preachers and coming to the stance that I know the power of artwork. I know the power of of of our our religion. Mhmm.
[00:20:47] And I know that if you the power of artwork and the power of Christianity, if you put those together in its distilled pure form and drop it down on a city street, it will blow people away. It will convert people. The weakness the weak link in the chain is me. I don’t think that the the burden, the responsibility is on the viewer. I believe it’s on me as a sculptor.
[00:21:20] And if if this the the, the piece doesn’t move someone, it’s on me. It’s not on the scripture, and it’s not on the the possibilities of artwork. Because I I believe that that that the ideal pieces of artwork are so powerful that they have the power to convert. And I I’ve I’ve had that experience with with some of the pieces that I’ve created, like the homeless Jesus sculpture that’s actually in Vancouver at the the Catholic Cathedral there. Now that piece has been installed, and it still is being installed all around the world.
[00:21:59] And I’ve had a big responsibility after that piece was created because it makes it it made me re understand how people are hungry for spirituality and that oftentimes, they’re not given a helping hand. And I think that artwork can be that artistic hand that can pull people into the face. And, oftentimes, the hand is like this. Stop it. Right?
[00:22:37] And I I see that, the challenge that I have is to untie the knot of scripture and the saints so people can see them. Because oftentimes, our faith is invisible because our mainstream, culture doesn’t wanna hear anything about it. Mhmm. And or it’s represented in such a Marietta, Little Lamb, Cookies and Cream way that
[00:23:09] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:23:09] Timothy Schmalz: The the hardcore aspect of it is is left buried. And so what I’m trying to do is pull it out. And so with all the you know? Oh, go ahead.
[00:23:18] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. I know. Was gonna say so so many of these things today, it’s all about, well, how does it make me feel? It’s gotta make me feel good. Otherwise, it’s not.
[00:23:24] You know? I don’t otherwise, I don’t want it. You know? You know? I I find that offensive, so I don’t want it.
[00:23:29] Or I find it you know? And and that’s wrong then. Or it makes me feel uncomfortable, so back off or stay away. And and that’s that’s not how life is. It’s that’s not reality.
[00:23:41] And Yeah. When artwork brings out, like, the the homeless Jesus, that that’s that’s an incredible piece. I’ve got, I wanna make sure I’m understanding you here, and I think I do. Because artwork should or can tell a story. And I remember going on a Europe tour when I was 16 with my my parents and brother and sister, and we went all over.
[00:24:04] And we all over Europe, and we were, we so many castles and so many, you know, you go into Paris, you go you you go in the the Louvre, and you see artwork, like so much art. And some of it, you just so, well, here’s another painting. But if you’re going on a tour and the tour guide actually tells you what the painting is about, now you see the painting totally different. Like, it’s it’s this okay. The story is in this person over here.
[00:24:32] There was a scandal, and that’s why that person was kind of put off to the side. So in the painting, although they were part of the family, they were scandal or or, you know, whatever whatever the story is. So now you have a totally different appreciation of it. Now your artwork, I find the the sculptures, they tell a story without it having to be said out loud, if if that makes sense. Like, just by looking at it, it’s it’s a moving piece of art.
[00:25:03] Like, it can move the soul. Is how much of your art do you think tells a story without a a verbal story being told about it, you know, without it having to be explained? Do you find that your art like, you’re working on this piece right now with the the the child trafficking when that or you’re working on it. Right? Is it done already?
[00:25:25] Timothy Schmalz: Oh, yeah. It’s it’s been done for a couple years.
[00:25:28] Troy Van Vliet: Okay. Sorry. Yeah. So it’s done. When people come to see it that know nothing about it, does it tell a story without having to, you know, read up on it or anything like that?
[00:25:38] I’m just curious.
[00:25:40] Timothy Schmalz: It better, or I don’t think it’s done its job.
[00:25:43] Troy Van Vliet: Okay. Alright. So so your goal is that then? You want it
[00:25:46] Timothy Schmalz: to be
[00:25:46] Troy Van Vliet: a moving piece without maybe just a title, but with without a book that that goes along with it.
[00:25:53] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. Yeah. I I I think that the artwork what I wanna do is is I want I wanna create pieces of artwork that will perhaps sometimes even encourage people to pick up a book afterwards or or to do more research or more more, more study on it. For instance, I created, in Toronto, University of Toronto, Saint Michael’s College, I I sculpted the Dante, sculpture garden, which has 100 cantos of the divine comedy, 100 sculptures each of the cantos of the divine comedy. And as I’m working on this, I’m thinking, here’s the first time ever you have the inferno, the divine comedy, Dante’s inferno, Dante’s purgatory, and Dante’s paradise.
[00:26:39] The first time ever each one of those cantos and each of the cantigas have been sculpted. My thought is my hope is that this is gonna encourage people to read the divine comedy. Who is Dante? So each different canto, I would almost be like a direct movie director studying that canto, figuring out, how can I entice people to learn more about Dante with this one canto? So I’ll take an action scene, for instance, but then I have to be very conscious of, well, the people that already know Dante, I want them to experience this too and appreciate So what can I do?
[00:27:16] What how can I represent this canto for the people that have known Dante their whole life? So it’s a mix like that. But for instance, I just created an amazing sculpture, Padre Pio. He’s my favorite saint. Padre Pio.
[00:27:29] You pick up any book on Padre Pio, and you probably won’t get through the first chapter without understanding that he wrestled with demons. He fought demons. Right? But then you look at all the Padre Pio sculptures out there, and he’s just sitting there, you know, very pious and upright, looks almost like a Saint Francis sculpture. Right?
[00:27:51] And I thought if was an 18 year old and I wanted to convince someone to start to get to know Padre Pio, Padre Pio Pius is not gonna do it. Padre Pio fighting a demon will because they probably have demons on their own that that they’re fighting. And here’s a saint
[00:28:12] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Timothy Schmalz: Looks very saintly, but there he is strangling a demon ready to punch him in the face. That’s gonna get people excited. And so I I think that the what what I I I do believe that, it’s the burden of the artwork to bring people in. And if it doesn’t do that, it’s not working. And I gotta work harder then.
[00:28:37] And so and so I I think that’s that’s, I I think, what what has to be done right now. And it’s interesting because, you know, the Padre Pio, I’m a lot of the Christian literature, Catholic literature is really hardcore. It deals with with so much of of the challenges and realities of living a human living a life, and and it asks you quite a bit. It asks you quite a bit, and it’s hard. But that but yet you look at most of the visual representations of our faith, and it’s, again, it’s softened down.
[00:29:22] It’s you know, these are visual ambassadors. And so I do believe that, like, I’ve done pieces like the, the holy family, which has, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus together, very nice piece. And it’s just all about peace. It’s I feel so peaceful even when I look at it. I feel comforted.
[00:29:42] Christianity to me is is a comfort, but it’s also a slap in the face. It’s also a punch in the gut because it’s asking you to be, not just cookies and cream, not just in your own little comfort world. When Jesus asks you to see in the marginalized himself, and not not pass by and and and and the amazing ideas like love your enemy. The the these are these are huge, huge challenges, and I wanna see that in artwork. I did this one sculpture of Jesus embracing a terrorist, and I thought that’s love your enemy.
[00:30:24] Because love your enemy is not perhaps someone that just well, maybe it isn’t as well, but someone that insults you at a dinner party. Loving your enemy is someone also that wants to kill you. And to see and it’s interesting, but to see Padre Pio strangling and punching a demon, to see Jesus, his hands reaching out from in a prison, it, in a sense, brings to light the scripture in or or the saints in a way that I think artwork has that power to do it. Right? Let me just, mention this, one of my favorite quotes that I I felt was very inspiring.
[00:31:04] It’s by Oscar Wilde. He wrote this SADK of Line, Oscar Wilde, the the Irish playwright at the turn of the century. The quotation was talking about the value of artwork, and he mentioned in the essay, people in London didn’t see the fog till the painters started painting it. And there is this power that artwork has about bringing attention to things that are oftentimes overlooked. And I think that’s a power of artwork that is harsh like, I think it it it’s we’ve had it for thousands of years.
[00:31:44] When that crazy emperor just wanted to kill all of his soldiers in China, so they’ll go with him to the afterlife, and someone convinced him to make terracotta warriors to make sculptures of them instead and put them in the tomb. The the emperor thought, yeah. I see that. That’s I get it.
[00:32:07] Troy Van Vliet: Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[00:32:09] Timothy Schmalz: And and and, you know, you look at you look at the the desecration of of in previous centuries of sculpture. Christians you go to Europe, and you’ll see from the Protestant Reformation heads cut off of sculptures and everything like that. And even just recently in our in our our Canada and United States. You know? Let’s tear down this statue here.
[00:32:33] Let’s destroy this statue. Right? Sculptures have always played a very important role in our culture. And so, therefore, it it does have that power. To use that power in a way, to bring people closer to God, I think, is is one of the best uses of it.
[00:32:55] And so that’s what I think. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Also, I have the idea of film that I think think about too.
[00:33:00] Because, actually, when I was working on that human trafficking sculpture
[00:33:03] Troy Van Vliet: Mhmm.
[00:33:03] Timothy Schmalz: Someone came up to me and my students said, did you see that blah blah blah movie on human trafficking? And I’m sculpting away, and I said, nope. And I thought because I don’t have two hours to sit there, right, because I’m obsessed with sculpting. I don’t have two hours to sit there. But, you know, and I was working on this piece, several people came up to me and said, have you seen this movie on human trafficking?
[00:33:26] It was a couple of summers ago. And they’re not saying that now. And it’s like, where did that movie go? Yeah. Oh, I know where it went.
[00:33:34] It got buried by other awesome movies because the media of film
[00:33:39] Troy Van Vliet: Comes and goes. Yeah.
[00:33:40] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. You can have some Sound
[00:33:42] Troy Van Vliet: of Freedom is probably the movie.
[00:33:43] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. But you know what? It’s with that with the film industry, you better get it out because it has an expiry date on.
[00:33:52] When I put a sculpture out at a cathedral, it’s there for not just one week, not just a month, not just a year, not just a decade, but it’s there infinitely. Yeah. Because bronze sculptures last a thousand years. And so it’s a message that is quiet too. You don’t have to sit down for two hours to take it in.
[00:34:17] You can you can use your eyes for two minutes and take it in. And so I’d I’d and and, also, you got you got brilliant films, but there are so many people working on trying to get that attention to you. Hey. You come over to my little room. Yeah.
[00:34:32] Watch my film for two and a half hours. Right? And that’s a lot of competition. That’s a lot of struggle for that. Sculpture stands alone is a because it lasts long and also, quite frankly, because there’s not very much of it out nowadays.
[00:34:48] So you have those two things that are very powerful that bring people to it. Right?
[00:34:52] Troy Van Vliet: That’s right. That’s right. Let’s, there there’s actually three sculptures that I wanna talk about here. First of all, your most famous one, homeless Jesus, which we’ve mentioned already. Can you describe that?
[00:35:06] We’ll get a we’ll we’ll get a picture up on the screen for those that are watching this on YouTube. But, can you describe it to people, and what inspired that, and and what’s the the story behind it?
[00:35:19] Timothy Schmalz: Okay. So, very rarely, there’s times that I don’t leave my studio very, because I’m just working nonstop. And I’m in Almyra, and it’s, like, way far away from Toronto. So it was a time where, I was totally immersed in my sculpture, and it was months since I’ve been to a big city, literally, like, around three months or so. I’m, going to deliver a sculpture at Saint James Cathedral in Downtown Toronto, and I am right on University Avenue, one of the big, big, streets in, in in Toronto.
[00:35:59] And in the middle of the day, I see in the middle of the sidewalk, a person, a human form, completely shrouded with a blanket, and it just hit me. Unlike, other times, I I just basically said that is Jesus, and I was that that was the insight that I have on it. And, it really did not leave me. It was it was like like the blanket covered that figure. I don’t know if it was a male or a female.
[00:36:35] There was, like, a blanket of of that idea that was just covering my myself as as an artist. And so I went back to Elmira, and, I thought, well, I’m a sculptor. Why don’t I sculpt that experience about feeling that you’ve seen Jesus in the least? So I started to create the homeless Jesus. And, the interesting thing is that I wanted to keep it quite, quite close to what I saw there.
[00:37:09] So the whole figure is covered with a blanket. However, I wanted people to know it was Jesus, so I just pulled up, rolled up the the the the the blanket on the, feet so I could show the wounds of of being on the cross, the stigmata. You know, as I was working on that too, I was I was sitting there beside the feet, and I thought I this is the closest I’ve ever been to a homeless person, and it’s actually a sculpture of a homeless person. I thought I’m gonna leave a little bit of space on this seat so someone can sit there. And so that’s how the homeless Jesus was was created.
[00:37:46] It was one and, you know, this is ironic because I pride myself in locking myself up in my studio, but it was the time where I left my studio that the eureka moment of that piece occurred to me by an experience of feeling that I saw Christ within a homeless person, man, and then creating a a sculpture on it. But, the the fascinating thing is that it was very spontaneous, the creation of it, and only afterwards did I realize how it it’s almost like theater. So many people have seen that sculpture and thought they saw a real person, and a lot of people attribute it to my great skill as a sculptor. However, to do a sleeping person is quite easy. It’s to do a tennis player that’s in the middle or an ice skater that’s in the middle of speed that would be difficult.
[00:38:40] But a person lying asleep and a sculpture is very similar. They don’t move. The reality is blurred there. So people see the sculpture of this shrouded figure, and oftentimes, they call the ambulance or the police. I just had a couple months ago the the sculpture in Warsaw.
[00:39:03] Someone sent me a note that, the piece got massive attention because the paramedics were trying to revive the sculpture. They got there and then realized it was a sculpture. People, all over have had to take a second look and, because they think it’s a real person. And some of them are calling the cops because there’s some vagabond on a bench, and others, you gotta get here quick, ambulance. I think someone’s dead.
[00:39:33] Right? So the the the blurring of the, of the artwork within the environment, and then you realize only later it’s a representation of Jesus. So first of all, you might think it’s a real homeless person. Okay. It’s a sculpture of a homeless person.
[00:39:57] And only with a closer inspection do you see the wounds, and then you realize it’s Jesus. And the fascinating thing is, one of the best, explanations of this was, actually from the the university. Regis College installed the first one here in in, Ontario. And a chaplain of a high school came up and said, you know what? The first time I saw that sculpture, I thought leave it to the Jesuits to put a sculpture of a homeless person in front of their in front of their school.
[00:40:30] So he went and he sat down on a bench, and he was about to put his hands on the feet. And only then did he realize the stigmata. And then only then did he realize it was Jesus, and it freaked him out. It was like, I just had a moment there. Right?
[00:40:48] And so the idea that it’s almost like theater very much conforms with and I think Matthew 25 is one of the most poetic passages of the bible, and it works because there’s a eureka moment. There’s an ambiguity at the beginning. When did we feed you? When did we visit you when you’re in prison? And then the the punch comes with it’s when you’ve done it to the least.
[00:41:13] And, that’s, how the the sculpture conforms. So I think it’s it’s a perfect example about how it’s almost a visual translation of scripture, and it’s done in a way that people can see it. That sculpture there, I’ve had so many people say, I’m not religious, but I like that piece, or that’s amazing. And I think that’s one of the bet and I’m thinking, well, that’s that’s the distilled Christian message. So that’s what you yeah.
[00:41:42] So that’s what you have to think about. What you when they start out, I I’m not religious, and what they’re saying is I don’t believe in, you know, waking up early Sunday to go to church. I don’t play pray the rosary. Mhmm. But I like that that sculpture.
[00:41:58] They’re saying, but I like the hardcore pure elements within the gospels. And so I think it’s
[00:42:04] Troy Van Vliet: What a compliment to you on that. Like, it’s absolutely incredible. How many of those have you reproduced, around the globe? You know?
[00:42:15]] Timothy Schmalz: It’s it’s always, growing. I have one stipulation that I, when I first created the piece, I thought, it’d be nice if this sculpture would go all over the world. And in fact, right now, it’s it’s amazing that it is being installed. One right now is being installed in Edinburgh, Scotland at Saint Mary’s Cathedral. And earlier this year, the Protestants installed one in Hong Kong.
[00:42:44] I think it was the Methodist Nice. In Downtown Hong Kong. So the the sculpture is is always being installed in different areas. And, actually, right now, one of the homeless Jesus sculptures is probably well, in a matter of a week or even a couple days, will be installed on the Camino in Spain at the final place. Where do you go to get your certificate?
[00:43:12] They’re placing it in that that park up there. So the sculpture, even now, even though I did the piece ten years ago, is still really, really doing. Yeah.
[00:43:23] Troy Van Vliet: Still popular, still being still spreading around.
[00:43:27] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah.
[00:43:27] Troy Van Vliet: So would you have two out there? Twenty two? Two hundred and two if you had to take a wild guess?
[00:43:33] Timothy Schmalz: I’d probably say around 200.
[00:43:36] Troy Van Vliet: Wow. Yeah. And they’re
[00:43:38] Timothy Schmalz: all in cities thanks. They’re all in cities that there’s space between them. And this is interesting because the cardinal of Hong Kong, he said, I want the homeless Jesus. And I said, well, I wish I would’ve known that a couple months ago because the Methodist just bought it, and they’re putting it in your city. Right.
[00:44:01] You too. Right?
[00:44:03] Troy Van Vliet: So you wanna spread them. Yeah.
[00:44:05] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. But what I did do is I did and I did did believe that, scripture sometimes warrants more than one sculpture, and I, for sure, felt that with Matthew, 25. So I created when I was in prison. I created a sculpture when I was a stranger. I created a sculpture when I was sick, you visited me.
[00:44:28] So I’ve created, like, six different sculptures that create that that whole passage in fragments that that could be appreciated. So the cardinal of Hong Kong, he’s putting all six of the different pieces throughout his city, which is amazing.
[00:44:45] Troy Van Vliet: I absolutely love it. Wow.
[00:44:46] Timothy Schmalz: That’s what that’s what, all these, pieces are in Rome, which is which is splendid. And what they just did during the Jubilee is create a pilgrimage within my sculptures that are in different places in Rome. So you can go to the one that Saint Paul’s outside the walls, and it will, lead you to the next one, which is in Saint Peter in chains near, the Colosseum. Starts out at the the the couple sculptures I have in the Vatican, but it brings you around on this. Right?
[00:45:17] But, yeah, that piece that piece really, feel, was was a big eye opener for me because I did that piece. Well, I’m I did that piece when I was, like, 45. And, after spending from 20 to 45 obsessively doing sculpture, do you think I thought there was nothing left to do with Christianity? No. I just got started, and that confirmed to me that this is the endless well of of of sculptures that can come out of this of this, not only scripture, but also the saints.
[00:45:56] Oh, yeah. And because we still we continue to to build on the saints. I just did two sculptures of, Carlo Cudas that are being shipped to Assisi for his canonization.
[00:46:07] Troy Van Vliet: Love it.
[00:46:08] Timothy Schmalz: And so we we always as Catholics, we always add to the the opportunity for sculptors to do more work. Right?
[00:46:16] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah. We need more of it. We need more of the reminders throughout. I mean, whether it’s in the front of a church or in front of a Catholic school or whether whether it’s just in the middle of the city somewhere as a reminder for us going by to see some of these incredible works that they’re just the reminder of that story and and how it’s supposed to impact our lives.
[00:46:41] Congratulations to you, and god bless you for doing that. I wanna change gears, though, and go to I’m gonna switch over to our school, which is just being completed right now in a couple of months. Our new campus is gonna be open, so we’ll be moving our small little school into our new big campus in the South Surrey White Rock area and in British Columbia for those of you that are tuning in from around the world. I the King family has so graciously donated one of well, I think it’s a famous piece of yours as well, and it’s the last supper table. And it’s built out of granite, and the seats at the last supper are empty except for Jesus, which is there sitting at the last supper in bronze.
[00:47:34] And this is going to be right we have a a courtyard in our school, and it sits right outside of the dining hall where the kids have lunch every day. And we’ve got these overhead glass garage doors that open up out into the courtyard area so that in the fall and in the springtime during school that they’ll be able to go out and and have lunch in the courtyard as well. And right in the center of all of that is this last supper table that you have produced, and we’re we’re anxiously awaiting for its arrival. We’ve we’ve built a nice concrete pad for it
[00:48:19] Timothy Schmalz: to be,
[00:48:21] Troy Van Vliet: bolted down to, and I cannot wait to see this piece in real life. Can you tell us a little bit about it and, what’s inspired you?
[00:48:33] Timothy Schmalz: Well, thank you so much for, talking about the Last Supper and mentioning the King family. I just have to say something, that if it wasn’t for the King family, this sculpture would not be there. And I do believe that, like a lot of my sculptures, they are, in a sense, the face of our face. And so by by private patrons actually doing this, they’re giving that visual ambassador. They’re making it so, in a sense, real, the message.
[00:49:08] And so if it wasn’t for them, that message, would never get out there. So I have to thank the the family as well as all my other patrons that that make make these sculptures a reality. Get them out of my studio, so to speak. Mhmm. If not, they would just be here.
[00:49:26] And but, the sculpture, I created that piece at a different studio in Kitchener at the time, and I remember, I was thinking about the idea of the Last Supper, and, I thought, you know what? This is probably one of the most iconic symbols in Christianity, the last supper. I’ve seen so many different artists do renditions of it, while most notably Da Vinci’s painting of the last supper. And I thought, how many times is that done, reproduced around the world for how many centuries? And I thought, I am going to actually create my own last supper.
[00:50:10] And so that’s basically my mission at this point in time. This is, like I don’t know. I was, like, at least thirty years ago. Right? No.
[00:50:23] It wasn’t yeah. No. It might have been, like, let’s see. I might have been 32 at the time. So so it was a time where I was really confident that I wanted to to fill in some, blind spots within my artwork.
[00:50:44] Mhmm. And, I thought the last supper would be a great one. So I started working on this piece, and then I realized that I didn’t want it to be, in a sense, an ornament. And this is a big shift. That piece is a big shift in my my my way of perceiving artwork.
[00:51:03] If the sculpture is too ornamental, people are going to think that our faith is ornamental because it’s projecting its message out and silently preaching. Right? And so I thought, I am gonna create a last supper, with 12 empty seats. And so when you look at it, when no one’s there, say at, like, midnight, you’re driving by and you see it in front of the school, There’s gonna be this beckoning, this forlorn Jesus that’s all alone. And so as I was working on in my studio, I realized the power of that message because, you know, I’m taking the last supper, but then I’m I’m actually putting a couple different meanings on top of it, whereas that we have to become the apostles of Christ today.
[00:52:02] Absolutely. And and that the idea of of our faith is not an ornament. It requires us to be a part of it. And that sculpture, bang. It just does it.
[00:52:19] Right? Yeah. And and so the sculpture has been installed in in different places. I do believe that this is the first one in Canada, which is great. And if you see it with people sitting there, it has another meaning.
[00:52:37] Right? If you see it with a bunch of children, it has it has a great message there. And in a sense, as soon as you walk into the piece, you become part of the art, which is awesome. Right?
[00:52:50] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:52:50] Timothy Schmalz: And and so it it’s, again, it’s like the homeless Jesus where it doesn’t have a frame around it. It doesn’t have a a grandiose pedestal that you’re supposed to look with your hands behind your back and, isn’t that interesting? Something that that kind of requires you to become involved in it. And, and and it takes up a space that also the chairs are functional. I remember hearing one place in The United States, people love sitting there and eating their lunch at the table.
[00:53:24] And I thought, well, isn’t that great? Because one of my beliefs is that we we limit Christianity, and we put it in a little box. And we take that box out on Sunday, and then we put it back in after Sunday. And Yep. An artwork can kinda reflect that idea, but it also can say that, no.
[00:53:51] You gotta, like like, again, Saint Francis, preach everywhere you go, and if necessary, even use words. Right?
[00:53:59] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:53:59] Timothy Schmalz: And and so it’s like taking the idea of of Jesus and taking him out of that that framed piece and bringing, like, you know, like a your typical da Vinci print, taking him off the wall and bringing him down into our lives. Right? And so I think that that’s a nice message for the young people. I think it’s a a visual reminder, so to speak,
[00:54:22] Troy Van Vliet: that
[00:54:23] Timothy Schmalz: we are needed and also that we shouldn’t just put our faith in a little box and keep it there, that it’s part of our landscape just like this piece will be.
[00:54:34] Troy Van Vliet: Saint John Paul two Academy is a Catholic school, of course. And but we’ll have, you know, many non Catholics coming to the school too. They’re welcome. And we wanted to make sure our Catholic school stays Catholic. So we’ve got, like, our chapel.
[00:54:54] You have to drive by our chapel to get into the underground parking lot. It’s right over top of our front entrance. It’s grand. It’s huge. It’s got a massive modern colored glass cross right in the right in the front that it’s right which which if you’re inside the chapel, it’s it’s right it’s right in the sacroste right right behind the sacroste.
[00:55:18] So it’s it’s massive thing. We wanted to be so bold and put it right out there in front of everybody to see so that this is who we are and you know what you’re entering when you come into our school. The same thing we wanna have throughout the school. So once you’re inside the school, you’ll know we’re a Catholic school just based on some of what you see. And your sculpture is one of the it’s out although it’s outside, it’s designed for outdoors.
[00:55:49] You see it from inside. We picked the most conspicuous place to put it. So it’s right there. The kids see it every day when they’re having their lunch, and they are also invited to sit at it when they’re having their lunch as well if they so choose. So we that’s one of the things that we wanted to put right in the forefront.
[00:56:12] Of course, we have we do have a bronze statue of a larger than life one, which also donated by the King family, god bless them, at the front of the school of Saint Jean Paul the second. We’ve we have one of those as well. And I’m glad to know that bronze is gonna last for a thousand years. Hopefully, our school is there a thousand years from now as well. And so I I cannot wait to see the last supper installed in our in our courtyard there in our dining hall.
[00:56:52] So and I we were gonna take a picture of it, and we’re gonna send it to you. And I hope one day you’ll come out and actually visit it as well so that you can see it and how it’s being implemented and utilized, you know, that it’s that it’s something that is gonna be impacting everybody for many, many, many years to come. And I’m gonna change gears one more time because there’s one more piece that you have already produced that we still wanna have that we have to raise money for. I’m gonna try and inspire. And it’s and it’s for me, it’s it’s the most important piece that we would put in the school.
[00:57:32] As being, you know, one of the original founders of the school, I had a vision. I had a motivation. And I had two daughters that were in a incredible elementary school, star of the sea in the South Surrey White Rock area. We did not have a high school out there. My youngest daughter has Down syndrome.
[00:57:52] There’s a long story that goes back because when my wife and I found out that our youngest daughter was going to have Down syndrome, it was in utero. And we were all but encouraged over and over and over again through the hospital, through BC Women to have an abortion. And being people of faith, we were you know, it was like, not. Absolutely not. All the way up until six months, they were telling us, hey.
[00:58:19] You can still have an abortion, which was just horrifying for us. And so we had little Anika was born, and she is the the shining star of our not just my immediate family, but our my extended family. Everybody loves her to death. She’s just been a true shining light. And it was her being born and her going to elementary school that we were thinking so early on, where is she gonna go to high school?
[00:58:51] We’d love to keep her with her friends that know her. You know? Where is she gonna go to high school? Because there was no Catholic high schools close by. And that inspired us starting Saint John Paul the second academy.
[00:59:04] Had we not said yes to life, this school today would not be in existence. And that story needs to be told, not by me over and over again, but it it needs to be told in our promoting life and choosing life. Whether it’s rejecting MAID or whether it’s rejecting abortion, we wanna embrace life. And you have a sculpture with the blessed virgin Mary, and she’s with child, and you can see it it’s like a a cutaway. I’m just trying to describe it in in my layman my layman way of describing.
[00:59:50] And it is absolutely stunning. It’s beautiful, and I want that in our front lobby in the center of the school so everybody sees it and knows what we’re about and knows where how important that is. Because every now and then, I I remind myself when I’m visiting the new campus and I’m there on-site, and it’s so easy to get caught up in work and and, you know, getting it built. And then I realized, you know what? Had we not said yes to life, this massive $80,000,000 project, it’ll be a 130,000,000 when it’s all finished, wouldn’t exist had we not said yes to life.
[01:00:33] And so can you tell the viewers a little bit about the history of that sculpture and and why we would want it so much in our school?
[01:00:48] Timothy Schmalz: That is absolutely awesome. I want it there too. That is one of my favorite sculptures. I created the the piece, angels unawares. Pope Francis installed it in Saint Peter’s Square.
[01:01:10] It’s talking about, all human life is sacred with with, within the context of, migration. I then created the human trafficking sculpture called Let the oppress go free, which the Vatican also requested. It was installed, at Saint Paquita’s hometown near Venice, Italy, and I wanted to do the third of this very important idea of all human life is sacred. And I have been, for many years, been very much, concerned about, the idea of, abortion within our culture. Pope John Paul the second, this is a culture of death.
[01:02:02] How much more accurate can you get when after you think about what happens with abortions and how how deeply it is promoted, if not encouraged, within our society? And it’s just like, here we are in in a lot it it’s just I I find it I could talk forever about about the idea of a culture with abortion. But at the time, what I wanted to do was I wanted to create a sculpture. I was working on another pro life sculpture, which I had Jesus weeping, and around the figure of Jesus would be, many different fetuses. And, isn’t it what what passage is that where Jesus says was asked how many times should you forgive?
[01:02:54] Do you remember the answer? Seven what isn’t it seven?
[01:02:59] Troy Van Vliet: Seven times seven seven hundred or it’s Yes. An infinite number.
[01:03:03] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. Seven times 70. Right? Yeah. Yep.
[01:03:08] And what I thought about is taking that multiplication
[01:03:14] Troy Van Vliet: Mhmm.
[01:03:16] Timothy Schmalz: And and I I I can’t I’m not good at math as you can probably tell. But taking that multiplication of those two numbers that he he suggested,
[01:03:27] Troy Van Vliet: 400 and yeah.
[01:03:28] Timothy Schmalz: How much?
[01:03:29] Troy Van Vliet: 490.
[01:03:31] Timothy Schmalz: Okay. And having 490 fetuses surrounding a representation of Jesus weeping. Oh. And I still wanna do that sculpture someday because I think that that would be that would be very powerful. Yeah.
[01:03:45] Just to see that. Right? And and just just visually, what an installation that would be. But I knew right away that the horror of it is not what I wanted to really suggest. I wanted to do a sculpture that, that wasn’t of a dead fetuses.
[01:04:04] I wanted to do something that was just life. That’s not always a counterargument to the abortionists. And so that’s why I did the National Life Monument, which I just called life. Because when you put the word pro life, it always is a reaction then. Right?
[01:04:23] And I didn’t want it I I didn’t want it to be a counterattack. I wanted just to do, a beautiful sculpture of a pregnant, or a mother and child. The child just so happens to be in the womb. Mhmm. And so I wanted to do it in a way that kind of makes it mystical.
[01:04:45] So I have the the the womb area, the circular reflected material. So it would capture light, and it would just be brilliant. And, it would just be as everything every line about it, all the contours would almost be like a whirlpool bringing into that new life. And so I I I thought that we need, a sculpture that is just a celebration of life and not a argument against why you shouldn’t kill babies. Right?
[01:05:22] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[01:05:22] Timothy Schmalz: And I thought I I thought if you can create a sculpture that can be placed in many different places where people look at a pregnant woman and say, isn’t that nice? That’s wonderful. Right? And, and so I created the sculpture, and, the first huge cast of the piece is now in Washington DC right across the street from the National Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception. How awesome is that?
[01:05:52] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, yeah.
[01:05:53] Timothy Schmalz: At the same time, and the same patrons supported the sculpture to go to Rome. The pro life, they actually have a national pro life organization. They installed it in San Marcello El Corso, one of the principal churches in the center of Rome. First pro life sculpture in Rome. And I thought to myself, yes.
[01:06:20] And it’s also the youngest representation of Jesus here too. Right? But I didn’t necessarily mean it, and I think reason why I worked for your school is I didn’t want any hard fisted murdering babies as a bad. I just wanted a celebration of life. And so I also made it that it’s just a woman.
[01:06:42] The woman has a veil on it, but it could be any woman. Right? It’s not like Okay. Absolute Mary. I interpret it that way Yeah.
[01:06:51] Because I’m a Catholic. Yeah. But if you’re a Muslim, you’d probably see a Muslim in there. You know, they wear the or, you know, it’s just a design oriented thing. Right?
[01:07:00] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to
[01:07:01] Timothy Schmalz: be to be that open, because I wanted it to be, in a sense, a monument for all to celebrate mothers, to celebrate motherhood. And the latest news on the piece, which I’m very happy about Mhmm. Is the governor of Texas signed the bill for the sculpture to be installed at the State Capitol Inn.
[01:07:25] Troy Van Vliet: Oh. Wow. And,
[01:07:27] Timothy Schmalz: yes, so this is very exciting about the piece. The piece for, the state capital is already done, waiting to be installed. The governor, just signed the bill. It’s gonna be installed very soon. And, again, the idea is, I was interviewed by some one of the Texas news medias there, and I ended the interview by saying, life is beautiful.
[01:07:54] Let’s have more humans. And that’s something that’s really missing in our culture today that I’m afraid of, quite frankly.
[01:08:02] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, same here.
[01:08:04] Timothy Schmalz: We’re we’re in Canada, and we’re not having very many births. We’re not, you know, we’re not having we’re we’re importing people, sure enough. But the the whole idea of of having, births is something that’s becoming rarer and rarer within our culture. And We
[01:08:26] Troy Van Vliet: just we just hit it recently. It’s official now that our our population growth rate is flat, that we are not having our births are not are are equal with the death rate in Canada right now. Like, it’s
[01:08:44] Timothy Schmalz: Is that including the 2,000,000 immigrants that we bring in?
[01:08:49] Troy Van Vliet: No. It doesn’t include. That’s the only thing that’s increasing our population is immigration. Yeah. Our population is not growing based on birth rate at all, which is Yeah.
[01:08:59] So sad. So sad.
[01:09:00] Timothy Schmalz: I I was in Toronto, and I was installing my one of my Matthew 25 sculptures. When I was sick, you visited me, And it’s right near the the Royal Ontario Museum. And I’m, like, looking at, you know, the installation. Everything’s going good and everything. People on the street that’s right on Bloor Street.
[01:09:19] Right? And wait a minute. This is early in the morning. Then I see this woman with a baby carriage. Young woman too.
[01:09:26] And I look around, and I say, isn’t that great? I just was very happy to see that on the sidewalks. And I peeked in the baby carriage.
[01:09:35] Troy Van Vliet: It was a dog. Oh, no.
[01:09:38] Timothy Schmalz: Yeah. And I’m like, I was tricked. Don’t forget this is Toronto here. Right? But I thought of what Pope Francis said.
[01:09:48] And while he he was obviously, he was against abortion, but he said to the Italians, people should have people, not pets, start raising families. Yeah. And I’m thinking about this, and I’m thinking, yeah, this is this is what’s happening, in our culture today, and it’s it’s it’s not good. Right? And so to do a sculpture like this that is that is a mother and child, the child just so happens to be in the womb.
[01:10:19] Right? It’s almost like a mirror being held up to someone. If you’re gonna hate that, if you’re gonna find a problem with that, it’s a mirror up to yourself. Find a problem with what’s within you that that that, you’re angry against, the idea of creating human life. Right?
[01:10:38] And so, yeah, that’s that’s my my sculpture. It’s being installed in, state capital in Texas. I’m also doing a smaller one for a beautiful church in Boston, and, my hope is that that piece goes everywhere. And I’ve also created small miniatures of the piece and actually rosaries that pro life organizations in America are using to raise money, for to help them help mothers. So if I can turn my use my sculpture, turn it into a rosary, that means making it small.
[01:11:14] Making smaller pieces of it and helping these organizations that are helping mothers, that’s that’s, like, that’s a great tool for a sculpture.
[01:11:23] Troy Van Vliet: Huge tool. And that and that sculpture, once again, in our school with our youth to be reminded every day about life. You know? So when they may be faced with challenges like that, that the automatic is no. We say yes to life.
[01:11:37] Like, this is, you know, from conception to its natural end. This is who we are. This is what we believe. This is what we do. And we need to to to to get that word out and instill that in our youth again, and that’s so much why I wanna have that in the front of right in the center of our school so that everybody can see it for forever.
[01:12:01] So so that’s another another goal. We’ve got a lot of things to raise money for in our school. Yeah. There’s many bills to pay, but this is this is one that I wanna see and have it as part of the legacy of Saint John Paul the second Academy.
[01:12:17] Timothy Schmalz: Tim? After we’re done here after we’re done here, I want you to give me your address, and I’m gonna send you a small version of the piece so you can you can have a small version. Very small. You can have one.
[01:12:28] Troy Van Vliet: Wow. Wonderful. Thank you so much. And I and I’ll I’ll put that in in the forefront there to to get the funds raised to to get the big piece. So thank you for that.
[01:12:38] Timothy Schmalz: Tim No problem.
[01:12:39] Troy Van Vliet: We’re running out of time here, and I just wanted to say thank you for joining us here today on Catholic Education Matters, and so much appreciate it. And God bless you for all the work you do and for getting that message out, through your artwork and through your sculptures. And please keep up the good work. Don’t stop. You’ve done so much great work, and you’ve got a lot of great work to still do.
[01:13:05] Timothy Schmalz: Thank you. Thank you so much, and it was nice taking this break and talking with you.
[01:13:09] Troy Van Vliet: Thank you for listening to Catholic Education Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please Catholic education. Be sure to listen again.
