The Sentinel

Watching over the Forks of the Thames stands a mysterious and quiet monolith. It’s smooth steel surface reflects the sun at dawn and dusk, while its imposing humanoid shape casts large shadows, like a community sundial, throughout the day. Art inspires our imaginations – and it is hard to tell if this towering figure is from the not-so-distant future or from the ancient past. Commissioned in 1983, the Sentinel, as its name typifies, embodies the characteristics of strength, courage, and vigilance. This is not surprising, as this public sculpture memorializes the arguably mythic life of one Walter J. Blackburn. Indeed, Walter singlehandedly helped to build the London Free Press by taking on the roles of reporter, editor, photographer, and printer. As a proponent of workers’ rights, he learned the business through close work with employees at all levels and — with the help of an employee committee that would become the Free Press Employees’ Association — instituted a five-day work week, a pension plan, and a medical plan for employees. Known as the Father of Broadcast News and “a man for all media,” he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1999. The Sentinel was designed by the award-winning British sculptor Gino Lorcini, who for a time, lived in London, Ontario. As evident by the conceptual and formal sensibility of the Sentinel, Lorcini sought a diverse array of inspiration ranging from pre-historic monuments to minimalist art theory, and to interactions between natural and social spaces.