PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz described how, in the hours following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, acquaintances around the world suggested he memorialize the conservative commentator through sculpture.
Schmalz is the creator of numerous religious-themed works worldwide, including some in the Vatican. His massive and dramatic statement on immigration, “Angels Unawares,” was on display in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza during the 2020 holiday season.
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The Ontario-based sculptor became a fan of Kirk, a Christian, after discovering him from content streamed onto his phone during breaks at his studio.
Schmalz called Kirk “a breath of fresh air” for speaking with confidence and clarity and for inviting debate on major social and political issues such as abortion, immigration, race, and gender, to name a few.
“I didn’t agree with 100% of what he had to say,” Schmalz said. “But he had this obvious hope for humanity. He proved that people could disagree and still have these intellectual exchanges.
“I mean, his banner said, ‘Prove Me Wrong.’ How perfect is that?”
Kirk was shot and killed on Sept. 10 during an appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The internet turned ugly, Schmalz said, with depressing images of Kirk absorbing the sniper’s bullet, and people celebrating the murder.
Friends urged Schmalz to memorialize Kirk. Yet, he said his heart wasn’t in it.
“I’d have calls from people literally as far away as Spain,” Schmalz told The Tablet. “But I said, ‘I’m frozen right now. I can’t think of even working.’ But then I had a conversation with my 16-year-old daughter, and she was devastated.”
Unbeknownst to Schmalz, his daughter also followed Kirk. And while she also didn’t agree with all of his positions, she admired his skills so much so that it inspired her to join the school debate team. Their conversation evolved into a dialogue about society.
“There I was,” Schmalz said, “talking to my daughter for the first time about some of the most complex issues, like abortion.”
Schmalz subsequently considered creating a Kirk memorial, on one condition — “I said to myself, ‘God, I’m going to go to sleep now. And if the perfect idea of a sculpture of Charlie is what I wake up with, then I will start.’ ”
However, that didn’t happen. There was no immediate revelation, Schmalz said, adding that he had to push himself to overcome laziness. He went into his studio and clawed into some clay. Ideas started to flow.
“Immediately,” he explained, “it became not only a sculpture of Charlie, but a sculpture of Christ.”
The life-sized bust, which will be cast in bronze, shows Kirk in the embrace of Jesus. The savior’s nail-pierced palm covers the spot where the fatal bullet hit Kirk’s neck. Schmalz noted that detail was not deliberate.
“That kind of just fell together,” he said. “But there’s a unity there.”
Schmalz explained the other changes made during the five-day process to form his memorial to Kirk.
“Initially,” he said, “I had the Jesus in rage, with teeth bared, almost screaming, as if to say, ‘How dare you murder.’ Then, as things worked on, the Christ figure became less angry and more compassionate looking.”
The first impressions of Kirk, he added, were with eyes closed in death.
“But then they opened up as I worked on it,” Schmalz said. “Now he’s staring, bold and confident, into the future, almost like into eternity.”
The sculpture already has a future home: Ave Maria University, a private Catholic university in Ave Maria, Florida, northeast of Naples.
Schmalz said he shared photos of the clay rendering with Mark Middendorf, the university’s president, during a private unveiling of several new sculptures in Orlando on Sept. 17. Middendorf said he was “deeply moved by this powerful piece.”
“Timothy shared with me that no one had commissioned it — he had simply felt inspired after speaking with his daughter on Sept. 10, the day Charlie was shot,” the president said on the university’s website.
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Middendorf said he then asked Schmalz if the university could commission the piece, and Schmalz agreed. Benefactors subsequently pledged support.
Ave Maria University estimated that the sculpture will arrive in January.
“This sculpture is more than a work of art,” Middendorf said. “It is a call for our students to live courageously for Christ. It embodies Ave Maria University’s consecration to the service of the truth.
“We pray it will inspire students to live boldly, love Christ wholeheartedly, and radiate his truth and light to the world.”
Schmalz confirmed he has been lambasted for honoring Kirk.
“I’ve heard some priests describe him as being evil,” Schmalz said. “But my hope is for all those people who disagree with Charlie, that they see Jesus loves everyone. Jesus is against murder.
“If you’re a Christian and you’re angry at that, then you’ve got a problem, I think. And so, this sculpture, in a sense, can be medicine.”