Meet tollkühn Tolkienists with Steady and other crowdfunding ventures: Miriam Ellis

Another edition of Meet tollkühn Tolkienists and this time artist Miriam Ellis was so kind as to answer the Fëanorian Five. 😄

Coincidentally, she just announced her first art publication with Uppsala Press (think recent Tom Shippey books): The Art of Mercy (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Radio Rivendell (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) | Erik Mueller-Harder (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) | Matěj Čadil (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) | Michael Taaffe (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)

1. Could you introduce yourself in three lines?

I've been a fine artist for about 30 years and am a professional columnist. Professor Tom Shippey's publishing house, Uppsala Books, will be bringing out an art book of my Tolkien-inspired paintings and essays this year, titled The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth. I've been a Tolkien fan since early childhood, when my dear father began reading the tales to me. 

2. What are you doing right now?

This week I've been gathering lovely blurbs for the upcoming book from the most wonderful folk, and working on a painting that is a cross-section of the layout of Number 3 Bagshot Row, at the time of Sam Gamgee's childhood. I had just finished a piece showing an overhead view of Bag End in all its splendour and I wanted to follow that up with a depiction of a humbler hobbit dwelling. While awaiting publication of The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth,  I'm devoting 2025 to a detailed study of hobbit history and culture, which I deeply love. 

3. How did you come to Patreon?

Very kind friends in the Prancing Pony Podcast community encouraged me to create a Patreon profile. I am just getting started there and would be so grateful to earn more patrons. I so value my generous and supportive patrons. 

4. What are your plans/projects for the future, Patreon and otherwise?

I'll be using Patreon to keep my patrons updated on progress with my work. The hobbit history and culture project is full of joy for me right now. Kind fans have remarked that I paint like a hobbit telling their own story and that has inspired me to dig deep into trying to fully envision life in the Shire and surrounding countryside. Imagine getting to see the Old Took's fireworks at Midsummer, or to be there in the Long Winter when Gandalf arrives to rescue the starving hobbits, or to go to Westmarch with the Fairbairns and gaze up at the three towers. I'm covering the major hobbit migrations, customs, architecture, and so much more, studying every possible detail that Professor Tolkien provided us about them. I had devoted the past few years to painting more broadly from Tolkien's remarkable themes of recovery, escape, and consolation and their connection to mercy, and I'm continuing on that study because it moves me deeply, but I thought it would be a good fit for my skills to also do a specialized study of the hobbits, because of my great and lifelong love of them. I will be presenting remotely at a few events this year, including Holy Moot in March.

5. Would you recommend fellow artists to come to Patreon?

Patreon is easy to set up and use and I am enjoying it so far. It might be the right fit for other artists, or they might prefer a different platform like Steady. I would also recommend that artists have their own websites, if possible, and other social media platforms.

Optional: What does Tolkien mean to you?

I come from a large, Tolkien-adoring family, so the tales feel like part of my family's heritage. My parents went on a hobbit honeymoon in the 1960s, taking a copy of The Hobbit with them to read aloud at a cabin in the mountains and my father then read the stories to all the children when we came along. Professor Tolkien's imagination has shaped so much of my own and I take it as a sacred trust to paint as faithfully as possible from his own, authoritative words. Every painting I undertake starts with a long session of research and note-taking. The "other minds and hands" scenario he described involving artists is one I think about all the time, hoping to honor his vision with my own hands as a devotional work. I've done annual readings of the major works for decades and, as an adult, appreciate them for so many different reasons: great tales, languages, ecological stewardship, fellowship, high beauty, pure genius. The older I get, the more I've come to depend on Tolkien's writings as a kind of spiritual companion guide. I am inspired by his life of faith and his vision of goodness in a difficult world. There is so much to love about J.R.R. Tolkien, and every enthusiast can find their own Road through his works.

Visit Miriam’s Patreon

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