Michelangelo once described his artistic process by saying, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” World-renowned Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz made a similar observation in his keynote speech at this year’s Corpus Christi–St. Mark’s College fundraising breakfast.
“I look at this school, and it’s like a studio, and the clay is like the students,” he told the hundreds in attendance. “I see this beautiful environment that is so needed within our mainstream nihilistic culture,” he said. “These new creations, these new students coming up” are the Church’s best response “to fight the nihilism that is in our world today.”
Schmalz spoke about his transition from being a student steeped in the avant-garde of the modern art world to becoming the deeply Catholic artist who, in 2019, had the privilege of having one of his statues, Angels Unaware, installed at St. Peter’s Square in Rome—the first sculpture to be installed there in four centuries.
“If it wasn’t shocking, it wasn’t artwork,” he said about his early creations, reflecting on how he spent his late teens and early art school years copying the likes of Jackson Pollock. But he couldn’t sustain the effort.
Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz presents an example of cynical modern art during the Corpus Christi–St. Mark’s College fundraising breakfast.
He had become steeped in the very nihilism that Catholicism opposes. Over time, creating modern art became unsustainable and took its toll. Schmalz experienced what he describes as an “artistic meltdown.”
The modern art world was too far removed from the masters who had inspired him early in life: the Michelangelos, Da Vincis, and Berninis of the past.
The masters “had something that the art schools were not telling you,” he said. “In order to have great artwork, you needed great subject matter.”
“You needed a subject matter that had substance,” he continued. “I realized that form really is important to sculpture—that how it’s presented can really deepen one’s understanding of what’s going on behind the piece.”
He concluded that Catholic Christian art was all he wanted to devote himself to.
“Our faith is not an ornament; it requires participation and involvement,” he said. “The amount of work that can go into celebrating Christ and glorifying our eternal truths is infinite.”
In addition to his myriad works of art scattered around the globe, Schmalz’s Homeless Jesus statue can be seen outside the doors of Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver.
In his closing address, Corpus Christi–St. Mark’s College Chancellor, Archbishop J. Michael Miller, thanked attendees for supporting the school.
“I thank all of you for what you have done to establish more firmly, with more conviction, the Catholic intellectual tradition in our midst,” he said. The students are “transformed to bring a sound critical understanding of the Church’s social teaching, particularly into the public forum.”
The schools “are at a great point in their history,” said the Archbishop. “Indeed, I think a tipping point has been reached because of the enthusiasm of its students out in the community, its outstanding faculty, and those of you in this room who are convinced that St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi College are absolutely necessary to the well-being of the Lower Mainland, British Columbia, and certainly the Catholic Church.”
Archbishop Miller emphasized that “the Catholic institution also aims at the interior transformation of the person. We are not just about serving the common good, but about the transformation of the mind and heart.”
Additional remarks were made by president Gerry Turcotte, St. Thomas More Collegiate principal Joe Adams, Sister Nancy Brown, SC, who received an honourary doctorate, board director Nicholas Olkovich and vice-chair Vincenza Eppich, St. Mark’s graduate and B.C. Catholic columnist Julie VanSpall, and second-year Corpus Christi student Ana Brkich.
During his address, Turcotte said the colleges offer a broad education that prepares their students for the world as it is.
He also touched on funding. Events like the Fundraising Breakfast are essential, he said, because the colleges do not receive any government funding, despite needing to navigate myriad hurdles to maintain their legal status as post-secondary institutions of learning.
In her speech, Brkich spoke about her experiences as a student who chose Corpus Christi and how her ongoing education has challenged her to grow.
“I knew I wanted to be somewhere where I could thrive, not just academically but as a young person entering adulthood,” she said. “I wanted to continue all the values [Notre Dame Regional Secondary] taught me, which is to know, love, and serve. At Corpus Christi, I can do just that. The school has pushed me to grow.”
A short documentary by Brkich and her classmates Amuthiny Arun and Lily Ngo was shown during the breakfast. It focused on homelessness and highlighted the work of Catholic Street Missionaries founder Mildred Moy, who left a high-paying job at IBM in 2003 to devote her life to serving the homeless in Vancouver.
“Completing the project was more than just checking a box on a class assignment,” she said, adding that it was an honour to work with Moy, whom she found inspiring. Additional footage from their project was donated to Catholic Street Missionaries to help with their work.
The breakfast took place on Nov. 16 at St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby, where the St. Thomas More Collegiate Choir performed a two-song set.
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