Tim Tolkien

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Tim Tolkien
Sentinel sculpture TimTolkien.jpg
Sentinel near the Jaguar works in Castle Bromwich, formerly the Castle Bromwich Assembly Spitfire factory
BornOctober 1962 (age 61)
NationalityEnglish
Known forSculpture
Notable work Sentinel

Tim Tolkien (born October 1962) is an English sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning Sentinel .

Contents

He has a metal sculpture and public Art business at Cradley Heath, West Midlands. He is also a bass player and member of the band Klangstorm, founded in 1996.

Early life

Tim is the great-nephew of the writer J. R. R. Tolkien. He was raised in the village of Hughenden Valley and went to the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. He graduated with a degree in fine art (sculpture) from the University of Reading in 1984.

Works

Sentinel

Sentinel is Tolkien's most famous work to date. In 1996, he was appointed by CAN [1] who were awarded the contract to develop public art proposals for the estate using National Lottery money, as an artist in residence to help with regeneration of the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham. The following 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 and particularly the Castle Bromwich Assembly which stood nearby. 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 on 14 November 2000, near the former factory which built them, by their former test pilot Alex Henshaw.

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.

Ent

His proposals for a 20-foot (6.1 meter) high statue of Treebeard, an Ent from The Lord of the Rings, to be erected on the Green at Moseley, near J. R. R. Tolkien's childhood home in Birmingham, have met with some controversy, but permission for its erection – originally scheduled for May 2007 – was granted by Birmingham City Council. [2] [3]

Catalogue

Work
  • Location
  • (Birmingham unless stated)
DatePicture
  • Coordinates
  • (With links to map and aerial photo sources)
Notes
James Watt's Mad Machine Winson Green Metro station 1998 James Watt's Mad Machine - Winson Green Outer Circle Tram Stop (48800549752).jpg 52°29′50″N1°55′53″W / 52.497216°N 1.931290°W / 52.497216; -1.931290 Supported by Eric Klein Velderman, Paula Woof and local school pupils. [4]
Lanchester Car Monument Nechells1995 Lanchester car sculpture.jpg 52°29′35″N1°52′22″W / 52.4930°N 1.8729°W / 52.4930; -1.8729 On the site of the development of the first British petrol-engined car [5]
Mosaics Menzies High School, Sandwell With Eric Klein Velderman and pupils. [6]
Millennium SculptureSt.Nicholas School, Kenilworth 2001With pupils [7]
Dragonfly sculptureHembrook Infants and Junior school, Warwickshire May 2003With Emma Dicks [8]
GatewayBelle Vue Primary School, Stourbridge [9]
Archway Springhallow School, Ealing With pupils. [10]
Memorial to Sir Cedric Hardwicke Lye, West MidlandsNovember 2005 Sir Cedric Hardwicke sculpture - Dudley Road, Lye (38803701042).jpg 52°27′32″N2°07′04″W / 52.458776°N 2.117764°W / 52.458776; -2.117764
Bluebell Sot's Hole Local Nature Reserve, West Bromwich2008 Tim Tokien - Sot's Hole Bluebell - 01.jpeg 52°31′38″N1°59′05″W / 52.527268°N 1.984727°W / 52.527268; -1.984727 [11]
GateSot's Hole Local Nature Reserve, West Bromwich2008 Tim Tolkien, Sot's Hole gate - 2013-05-20 - Andy Mabbett - 01.jpg 52°31′38″N1°59′05″W / 52.527202°N 1.984665°W / 52.527202; -1.984665 [11]
Gates RSPB Sandwell Valley RSPB Reserve Gates 1.jpg 52°32′07″N1°56′53″W / 52.535371°N 1.947992°W / 52.535371; -1.947992
Sentinel Castle Bromwich 14 November 2000 Sentinel sculpture TimTolkien 05.jpg 52°30′48″N1°47′53″W / 52.5134°N 1.7981°W / 52.5134; -1.7981
Cardinal Newman statue Birmingham Newman University 2010 Newman Statue021.jpg 52°26′02″N1°59′39″W / 52.43385°N 1.99419°W / 52.43385; -1.99419 Was at Cofton Park on 19 September 2010 for Pope Benedict XVI to beatify Cardinal Newman. [12] Now located at Birmingham Newman University in the Ryland Quad of the campus.
GateHolly Wood Local Nature Reserve, Sandwell 2012 Holly Wood Nature Reserve gate - 02.JPG 52°32′54″N1°55′32″W / 52.548281°N 1.925456°W / 52.548281; -1.925456 [13]
Roots and Branches Handsworth Park 2020 Roots and Branches sculpture at Handsworth Park (51490613909).jpg 52°30′43″N1°55′31″W / 52.51187°N 1.92524°W / 52.51187; -1.92524 With Graham Jones. Four trees with extended roots on the ground in steel which can be used as seats. [14]
Here and Now Bench Handsworth Park August 2023 52°30′37″N1°55′42″W / 52.51038°N 1.92825°W / 52.51038; -1.92825 Was inspired by a fairground waltzer car. Was commissioned to mark Birmingham hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games. [15]
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Tolkien also undertook the redesign of Lea Hall railway station, Birmingham, with Eric Klein Velderman; completed in 1998) [16]

Other notable work

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.

Related Research Articles

William James Bloye was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II. After serving in World War I, Bloye studied and later taught at the Birmingham School of Art. Becoming a member of the Birmingham Civic Society in 1925, he played a significant role as Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor, contributing to various public commissions. Bloye was a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, attaining the status of fellow in 1938. His association with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) included serving as its president from 1948 to 1950 and as the Professor of Sculpture. He retired in 1956 and died away in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Cole, West Midlands</span> River in the English Midlands

The River Cole is a 25 miles (40 km) river in the English Midlands. It rises on the lower slopes of Forhill, one of the south-western ramparts of the Birmingham Plateau, at Red Hill and flows south before flowing largely north-east across the plateau to enter the River Blythe below Coleshill, near Ladywalk, shortly before the Blythe meets the Tame. This then joins the Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. Its source is very near the main watershed of Midland England: tributaries are few and very short except in the lower reaches, so the Cole is only a small stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handsworth, West Midlands</span> Human settlement in England

Handsworth is an inner-city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Historically in Staffordshire, Handsworth lies just outside Birmingham City Centre and near the town of Smethwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwell Valley</span>

Sandwell Valley is an area of green belt in the county of West Midlands, England, on the border of Birmingham and West Bromwich, with Walsall at its northern end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Handsworth</span> Church in England

St Mary's Church, Handsworth, also known as Handsworth Old Church, is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. Its ten-acre (4 hectare) grounds are contiguous with Handsworth Park. It lies just off the Birmingham Outer Circle, and south of a cutting housing the site of the former Handsworth Wood railway station. It is noteworthy as the resting place of famous progenitors of the industrial age, and has been described as the "Cathedral of the Industrial Revolution".

<i>Sentinel</i> (sculpture) Monument in

Sentinel is a 16-metre-high (52 ft) sculpture by Tim Tolkien, installed upon Spitfire Island, a roundabout at the intersection of the Chester Road and the A47 Fort Parkway at the entrance to the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lye, West Midlands</span> Human settlement in England

Lye or The Lye is a town in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands county, England, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Stourbridge and borders with Pedmore and Wollescote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tolkien family</span> English family of German origin

The Tolkien family is an English family of German descent whose best-known member is J. R. R. Tolkien, Oxford academic and author of the fantasy books The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

Castle Bromwich Aerodrome was an early airfield, situated to the north of Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The site now falls within the City of Birmingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurley Robinson</span> English architect (1883–1953)

Archibald Hurley Robinson was a prolific English architect of cinemas prior to the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Kong statue</span> Sculpture by Nicholas Monro

A statue of King Kong by Nicholas Monro was commissioned in 1972 for display in Manzoni Gardens in The Bull Ring, in the centre of Birmingham, England. It was later displayed elsewhere in Birmingham, then at markets in Edinburgh, Penrith, at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, and now in the owner's garden in Cumbria.

Stephen (Steve) Field RBSA is an English sculptor, muralist and mosaicist, active mainly in the West Midlands, particularly the Black Country, where a number of his works are on public display. He has been resident artist and public art adviser to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, since 1988, and is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, the Contemporary Glass Society and the British Association of Modern Mosaic. He coordinated Dudley's Millennium Sculpture Trail.

References

  1. ↑ "Collective Art Noise". Archived from the original on 4 November 1999.
  2. ↑ "Outrage as Tolkien statue is approved". March 2007.
  3. ↑ "Tolkien statue gets the go ahead". 2 March 2007.
  4. ↑ Archived 7 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Birmingham Photographs – Lanchester Car Public Art". Bplphoto.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "Menzies High School - News". Archived from the original on 30 October 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2006.
  7. ↑ "St. Nick's Sculpture". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Arts Contact Warwickshire". Warwickshire.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Belle Vue Primary School". Archived from the original on 11 February 2006. Retrieved 8 April 2006.
  10. ↑ "Pupils get a spring in their step". Ealing Times. Thisisealing.co.uk. 28 July 2003. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  11. 1 2 "The Friends of Sot's Hole". The Friends of Sot's Hole. Spring 2008. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  12. ↑ "Tolkien relation sculpts Cardinal Newman statue". BBC News. 10 September 2010.
  13. ↑ Philpotts, Chris (26 April 2013). "Whitecrest pupils add the icing on the gate!". Great Barr Observer (1868): 5.
  14. ↑ "Roots and Branches - Four Corners Sculpture". Handsworth Creative. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "The Commonwealth - Here and Now". Handsworth Creative. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  16. ↑ Archived 7 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
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