Tim Tolkien

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Sentinel, by Tim Tolkien, near the Jaguar works in Castle Bromwich, formerly the Spitfire factory

Tim Tolkien (born in late 1962) is a British sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning Sentinel. His other claim to fame is as the great-nephew of J. R. R. Tolkien, the famous author of The Lord of the Rings (Tim Tolkien is the son of Julian Tolkien, who is the son of Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, who is the brother of J. R. R. Tolkien). Tim Tolkien was educated at the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe, and has a wood carving and metal sculpture business at Cradley Heath, West Midlands. He is also a bass player and a member of the band Klangstorm, founded in 1996 and now celebrating their 10th anniversary.

[edit] Works

[edit] Sentinel

Sentinel is Tolkien's most famous work to date. In 1996, he was appointed, using National Lottery money, as an artist in residence to help with regeneration of the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham. The next year, he consulted with residents about an art project for the entrance to the estate. They favoured a sculpture featuring Spitfires, reflecting the area's flying history. The large steel and aluminium Sentinel Spitfire sculpture was the result, showing three Spitfires peeling off up into the air in different directions. It was unveiled in October 2000, near the former factory which built them, by their former test pilot Alex Henshaw.

[edit] Cedric Hardwicke

Tolkien also sculpted a memorial to the actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, at the latter's birthplace of Lye, West Midlands, for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The memorial takes the form of a giant filmstrip, the illuminated cut metal panels illustrating scenes from some of Sir Cedric's best-known roles, which include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Shape of Things to Come, and The Ghost of Frankenstein. It was unveiled in November 2005.

[edit] Ent

His proposals for a 20-foot high statue of Treebeard, an Ent from The Lord of the Rings, to be erected near J. R. R. Tolkien's childhood home in Moseley, Birmingham, have met with some controversy.

[edit] Other

Lanchester Car Monument, on the site of the development of the first British petrol-engined car

• James Watt's Mad Machine at Winson Green Metro station, Birmingham (supported by Eric Klein Velderman, Paula Woof and local school pupils) [1]
• The Lanchester Car Monument, Birmingham [2]
• Redesign of Lea Hall railway station, Birmingham (with Eric Klein Velderman; completed in 1998) [3]
• Mosaic at Menzies High School, Sandwell (with Eric Klein Velderman and pupils) [4]
• Sculpture at St.Nicholas School, Kenilworth (with pupils) [5]
• Dragonfly sculpture at Hembrook Infants and Junior school, Warwickshire (with Emma Dicks; completed May 2003) [6]
• Gateway, at Belle Vue Primary School, Stourbridge [7]
• Archway at Springhallow School, Ealing (with pupils) [8]

[edit] Toyah

He has also worked with the singer and television presenter, Toyah Willcox, designing her armour-like stage costumes and, in 2005, making a documentary film for BBC2, comparing New Zealand's successful exploitation of its movie-related J. R. R. Tolkien associations, with that of J.R.R.'s (and Toyah's) home town, Birmingham.

[edit] Tolkien family tree

[edit] External links

• Sentinel Spitfire sculpture
• Moseley Ent statue proposal
• Birmingham Post: Tolkien statue plan splits community
• Lye movie star gets civic honour
• Interview with Tim Tolkien's father

• Klangstorm
  • review
  • archived website

• Toyah
  • Armour for Toyah
  • Film with Toyah