TORn’s good friend and artist extraordinaire Donato Giancola, who was part of TORn’s art show in Los Angeles last February, has recently completed a new masterpiece: a commissioned painting showing a scene from The Silmarillion, when Huor and his brother Hurin are rescued by eagles. The work is huge – roughly 9 foot by 6 foot! – and perfectly showcases Giancola’s skill in capturing landscape and living beings alike. (The image of Donato himself sitting in front of the painting gives you an idea of the scale of the piece!) The majestic scenery is breathtaking, with beautiful play of light and shadow over the mountains and the valley floor. The patches of glimmering snow on the peaks in the foreground of the picture are mirrored in the white towers of Gondolin,which gleam ‘like … spike[s] of pearl and silver’.
You can read about Giancola’s inspiration for his work – from artists in the Hudson River School of landscape painters, for example – at his website, here. You can also see more of his incredible Tolkien paintings in his book, Middle-earth: Visions of a Modern Myth. Tolkien isn’t the only writer who inspires Giancola; readers who are fans of George R R Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire can look forward to a calendar in 2014, for which Giancola will create 12 new paintings inspired by that world.
Meanwhile, enjoy Huor and Hurin Approaching Gondolin.
Nothing official has been announced yet, but indications out of the Capital City are that things are progressing towards something Lord of the Rings fans have long desired, a museum dedicated to Middle-earth. For a more dynamic experience for visitors, it makes more sense for it to be a more general Film museum focused on all the films coming from Wingnut and WETA. That would allow for visitors to see new exhibits over time, but with a heavy focus on Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Te Papa had a very popular Lord of the Rings exhibit in 2002 and again in 2006, which turned out to be its most popular exhibit, so the market is there. Locations being looked at are somewhere along the waterfront. This would gives fans year round a second place to connect with their LOTR fandom alongside the WETA Cave, and something for them to see long after the final film is released. One of the biggest hurdles when this idea was first conceived was the licensing rights, but indications seem to imply that is less of an impediment right now.
Over the next couple of weeks TheOneRing.net is conducting a pledge drive to raise funds to keep our servers running. We have some unique auctions going on over at ebay, including something very special and truly one of a kind that highlights a key event that TORn put on for fans earlier this year — a signed canvas with autographs and drawings by many of the artists who participated in our “Unexpected Art Show”.
We were proud to present this one night only gallery exhibit held on February 22, 2013 at Lot 613 in the historic arts district of downtown Los Angeles. In this cool space, we featured a variety of artists who use many different mediums and are creatively inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth universe. The all volunteer TORn staff spent hours setting up the space, coordinating and meeting with artists from around the world, and cleaning up after a wonderful night of music and artwork. We then had to hurry over to help set up for our next event — the Oscar party we threw the very same weekend! As you can imagine, it was quite tiring but very rewarding to see and meet so many fans admiring the beautiful artwork and having a chance to mingle with such an incredible group of talented artists. It was a true celebration of how much J.R.R. Tolkien’s works mean to all of us.
Acclaimed artists Tim Kirk, Donato Giancola, and Jerry VanderSelt were on hand to meet fans, sign prints, and in the case of Tim, get a portrait of yourself drawn as a playful Hobbit! They also took the time to autograph and draw on a special TORn stretched canvas panel for us. Tim drew Smaug, Donato drew Gandalf, and Jerry sketched Strider. Eleven other artists who attended the show also signed the canvas including LEGO artists OneLug, graphic artist Nancy Steinman, stained-glass artist Christie Wood, and more. You can own this truly unique and one of kind piece of artwork from this spectacular TORn event by bidding today!
If you live in, or in the near future heading to, England here’s a reminder to check out the Bodleian Library summer exhibit From the Middle Ages to Middle-earth.
The Bodleian’s summer exhibition takes as its theme the work of some of the foremost modern exponents of the genre, members of the group of writers informally known as the ‘Oxford School’: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and Philip Pullman.
From its unique holdings of these authors’ papers, the Library is displaying a selection of Tolkien’s original artwork for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; C.S. Lewis’s ‘Lefay notebook’ and his map of Narnia, and manuscripts of novels and poems by Alan Garner, Philip Pullman and Susan Cooper, many of which are exhibited here for the first time.
Also featured in the exhibition are some of the books and manuscripts that contain the myths, legends and magical practices on which these Oxford-educated authors freely drew for inspiration. This historic material is housed in the Bodleian, which as a source of sorcery and arcane learning can be re-imagined as an enchanted location in itself, where the very act of reading is imbued with magical, transformative properties.
There is a large company of dwarves and a jittery wizard marching down on Wellington weekend June 1 – 3 at the Armageddon Expo. (It just so happens to be the Queen’s Birthday as well!) By purchasing an exclusive “Hobbit Upgrade” ticket you can meet the following Hobbit Cast:
Jed Brophy (Nori), Adam Brown (Ori) Mark Hadlow (Dori), Dean O’Gorman (Fili) Aidan Turner (Kili) John Callen (Oin), Peter Hambleton (Gloin), Stephen Hunter (Bombur), William Kircher (Bifur), James Nesbitt (Bofur), Graham McTavish (Dwalin).
Also Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown) will be there doing a panel and is signing autographs all 3 days.
Resident hot dwarves Aidan Turner (Kili) and Dean O’Gorman (Fili) will be signing and hosting photo sessions individually on Sunday only.
The EMP Museum in Seattle is just about the coolest museum ever, playing host to exhibits on Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Icons of Science Fiction, The Art of Video Games, The Lure of Horror films, and now Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic. The Fantasy exhibit just opened up a few weeks ago with loads of costumes, props and interactive experiences, and one true treasure. On loan for just the first 6 months are some borrowed pages from the original manuscripts of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” from Marquette University. Here are a few images of costumes from the exhibit, and in about 10 days this reporter will be visiting the museum and will post a full recap of all the things you can see and do while exploring all of the EMP Museum’s exhibits.
If you live in Seattle or will be visiting it in the near future, check their website for all the details on location, hours and entrance fees. The Iron Throne will be there for just the first 3 months of the exhibit, so if you wish to see either that or the Tolkien Manuscripts, plan carefully. EMP Museum.
TORn’s good friend and artist extraordinaire Donato Giancola, who was part of TORn’s art show in Los Angeles last February, has recently completed a new masterpiece: a commissioned painting showing a scene from The Silmarillion, when Huor and his brother Hurin are rescued by eagles. The work is huge – roughly 9 foot by 6 foot! – and perfectly showcases Giancola’s skill in capturing landscape and living beings alike. (The image of Donato himself sitting in front of the painting gives you an idea of the scale of the piece!) The majestic scenery is breathtaking, with beautiful play of light and shadow over the mountains and the valley floor. The patches of glimmering snow on the peaks in the foreground of the picture are mirrored in the white towers of Gondolin,which gleam ‘like … spike[s] of pearl and silver’.
If you live in, or in the near future heading to, England here’s a reminder to check out the Bodleian Library summer exhibit From the Middle Ages to Middle-earth.
