President Louise announced that her selection of Rotarian of the Month for May is Dave Chatson in recognition of his work supporting the club serving on the Finance Committee and looking after all of the member billing for the club.

 

Visiting Rotarians

Timothy P. Schmalz, Guest Speaker
Judy Proctor, Guest of Bill Proctor
Cathie DeCoo, Guest of Adrian DeCoo
Carolyn Martindale, Guest of Dave Martindale

Paula Rostrup, Guest of Paul Rostrup

Sue Parker, Guest of Gary Parker

Judy Ginsler, Guest of Ernie Ginsler

Erin Way is very happy to have her first vaccine shot scheduled.

 

Shawky Fahel was most delighted to announce that he was the winner of the Drayton 50/50 Draw, winning just over$139,000.

 

President Louise was happy to have obtained a personal goal this past weekend when she completed her first 5km run as part of the Mud Puppy Race organized by the RC of Kitchener Grand River.

President Louise announced that the annual club Golf Social will be June 28 at a Golf North facility.  Members are encourage to purchase Golf North Gift Cards, 20% of the sales of which come to the club.  These cards can be used for carts, food, pro shop items, etc. and are available at this link.

 

President Louise reminded members of the Five-Club Membership Committee that is working to promote Rotary in the area and that she was able to recently be a guest on the Mike Farwel Radio Show on 570 AM speaking about Rotary.  She has arranged with the show to have a monthly segment about Rotary, the next session to be at 10:30 a.m. on May 26.  She will have Linda Kenny with her to talk about Rotary’s history and connection with KidsAbility.

 

Karen Voisin has also had an opportunity to be on air recently on CKWR where she was able to talk about the great success Rotary has had with our Polio Plus campaign and how our experiences with it are helping with the COVID-19 vaccinations in various parts of the world.  A recording of her segment can be viewed at this link.  

 

Malcolm Graham mentioned an excellent Zone 28/32 webinar he attended recently called Musical Showcase but actually dealt with promoting Rotary and attracting members.  He found the webinar to be quite informative, a taping of the event can be viewed here. 

 

The following applications for membership in the club have been approved by the Board. Any member objecting to any of these must indicate their objection, and the reason for the objection, in writing to the club secretary no later than Thursday, May 13, 2021:

 

Betty Bax (primary), Paul McIntyre Royston (alternate) and Angela Olano (alternate) as corporate members through the Grand River Hospital Foundation.

 

Linda Bennett’s as an alternate corporate member through Walter Fedy.

 

Ailton Sanata as a regular member in the classification of Residential Real-estate.

Our guest speaker tonight was local sculptor artist Timothy P. Schmalz. Introduced by Shawky Fahel.

 

For 30 years, Timothy has been sculpting large scale sculptures in bronze with his works installed worldwide.  His most reputed pieces are permanently installed in historical locations in Rome and the Vatican.  His series of bronze sculptures highlighting the homeless in the context of Christian/Judaeo values, have been installed in every continent.  In 2019 Pope Francis installed his monumental migrant sculpture “Angels Unawares” in St. Peter’s Square, the first sculpture to be installed in St. Peter’s Square for centuries. 

 

Although most of his work is based upon a spiritual theme, he also creates large, complex public sculptures in bronze.  Timothy created the first monument in Canada to honour the women workers during WW2 and the first monument in Canada to celebrate the veterans of all wars Canada fought in.

 

His work also includes the Ontario Gordon Lightfoot Sculpture Park and the Indigenous/ French Meeting Sculpture Park.  Timothy Is currently working on the Dante Sculpture Park, sculpting 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy for Florence in celebration of 700th anniversary of the poet in 2021.

 

Timothy began sculpting when he was just 19 but was very disillusioned with much of what was being created at that time as modern art.  He spoke about how he struggled with what he wanted his art to represent and finally coming to the realization, for him, that art has to have meaning.  It needs to serve a purpose, tell a story and help to better humanity.  He has a strong Cristian faith and much of his work is inspired by Christian Scripture.

 

Timothy states “I am devoted to creating sculpture that is moral.  To find, capture and crystallize in bronze beliefs in a way that is understandable and authentic is my purpose as an artist.”

 

Several of his pieces were shown and he was able to give us some insights into their history, development and special features.  We also had a look inside one of his studios at some of the pieces on which he is currently working.

 

Listed below ae some of his pieces and the places where they are located:

 

 

Angels Unawares - National Basilica, Washington, D.C.

 

Angels Unawares (monumental) - St. Peter’s Square Rome, St. Paul’s Basilica, Rome

Homeless Jesus - Badia Fiorentina, Florence, Italy; Santa Anna, Barcelona, Spain

 

2018 

Homeless Jesus - Holy Trinity Church, Johannesburg, Africa; Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Singapore; Convent of the Order of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Shrine of Capernaum, Capernaum, Israel

95 Thesis - Historic Trinity Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan, United States

When I Was In Prison - St. Paul’s Basilica, Rome, Italy

 

Homeless Jesus - Papal Charities Building, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

When I Was Hungry And Thirsty - Finne Barres Cathedral, Cork, Ireland

When I Was Sick - Santo Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy

When I Was A Stranger - San Lorenzo in Lucina Basilica, Rome, Italy

When I Was Naked - St. Peter in Chains Basilica, Rome, Italy

 

Homeless Jesus - Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland; Almudena National Cathedral, Madrid, Spain

 

 

Miners Monument, Nova Scotia miners Museum, Sydney Nova.

 

The Banana - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

 

National Women’s Workers Monument - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Roycroft Sculpture Garden East - East Aurora, New York, Ontario, Canada

 

Fort McMurray Fire Fighters Monument - Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada

Gordy Howe Building Back Monument - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Golden Leaves, Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald - Whitefish Point, Michigan, United States

The Meeting Sculpture Park - Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada

 

Golden Leaves Gordon Lightfoot Sculpture Park - Orillia, Ontario, Canada

 

Veterans Monument - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

 

Kitchener Fire Fighter Monument - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

 

National Mining Monument - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Let the Oppressed Go Free - underdevelopment

 

Most of his pieces can be seen here: www.sculpturebytps.com

Cheryl Ewing thanked Timothy Schmalz and noted that a donation will be made to The Rotary Foundation, Polio Plus campaign, in his name, to allow 100 children to receive a polio vaccination. 

 

President Louise, thanked everyone for attending and provided a reminder about the next meeting on May 10th.