Local sculptor commissioned by Pope Francis

Local man creates sculpture for Pope Francis Timothy Schmalz's handcrafted piece commissioned by the pope was unveiled in Alberta. Stephanie Villella has more.

A St. Jacob’s man is the creator of the statue Pope Francis unveiled during his visit to Alberta.

Timothy Schmalz, whose work has been featured in the Vatican and around the world, was commissioned by the Pontiff.

“This was really an amazing experience,” Schmalz said. “The Vatican loved it and then they showed pictures of it to Pope Francis and he decided he wants to give it to the Indigenous people.”

Following Pope Francis’ prayer service at Lac St. Anne in Alberta on Tuesday, he unveiled and blessed the life-size sculpture called “lady untier of knots,” which is a title Catholics use to refer to the Virgin

Mary.

“It’s a sculpture of Mary untying a knot around the world. And in a sense, that’s what Pope Francis is coming here to do. He’s coming across the world to try and untie a knot,” Schmalz explained.

Schmalz said the knots represent problems in the world.

The statue has an interactive component to it as well. Orange ribbon, the colour that represents Indigenous people and residential schools, was placed around the globe Mary is standing over. It allows people to tie or untie their own knots.

“When I decided to sculpt the piece, I created the opportunity to kind of weave real knots within the piece. At the unveiling and blessing of the sculpture, the Vatican and the church actually put orange ribbons around the piece with knots on it. So people could kind of become tactile and interactive with the piece and untie real knots from the sculpture. Which, is absolutely fantastic because it involved them within the piece,” he said.

Schmalz said it took him a year to make the statue. The piece was then air shipped to Alberta for the Pope’s arrival.

The sculpture will become a permanent fixture at Lac St. Anne, a place that’s a major pilgrim site for Indigenous Catholics.

“[The Pope] is only here for a couple of days, but that sculpture will kind of be a permanent marker of this intent and hope of peace and love.”