 Have you ever spent a rainy Saturday on the living room floor with a box of LEGO®? Perhaps you created a house, a car, or completed the 500-piece airplane set that was a birthday present...painstakingly following every instruction, smiling in amazement at your finished creation? Both those who grew up with the challenging fun of LEGO and those new to the bricks will surely appreciate Nathan Sawaya's eye-popping art exhibition, The Art of the Brick.
 The Art of the Brick exhibition, which focuses solely on LEGO as an art medium, makes its West Coast debut at Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding on May 16th. Millions of bricks in 27 exceptional pieces of art will be showcased, including three-dimensional sculptures and oversized mosaic portraits that will surely inspire you to build!
| Are your children enthralled with the art and construction of their own LEGO creations? Are you an aspiring brick artist yourself? Either way, come see first-hand how Sawaya creates these amazing pieces of art. On May 16th, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sawaya will be at Turtle Bay where he will build a custom piece, answer questions, show the tools he uses to create his amazing art out of toy building blocks, and will sign brick memorabilia. |
I had the unique opportunity to preview the exhibition first hand at its current home at the TELUS World of Science in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I believe everyone will be as blown away as I was when viewing the stunning LEGO art Sawaya has created. Whether being drawn to the enormous 20-foot-long T-Rex skeleton replica that Carl, age 9, described as "awesome," or gravitating to a skateboard replica with a skull on the bottom, which, to JD, age 10, was "intensely cool," there is truly something for everybody. My favorite piece is titled Crowd - it's a three-dimensional piece featuring eight individual figures that come together remarkably to form an eye. You have to see it to believe it!
For Kids: Nathan Shares LEGO Building Tips
Tips on LEGO and Life
- Sort your bricks by size and color and then it's easy to find the one you need. I have over 1.5 million bricks in my art studio in New York City. When you walk in and see the rows of color, it feels like you are walking into a rainbow.
- Remember to pick up your bricks when you are done creating. This way the vacuum cleaner doesn't get a mouthful. And your bare feet will be thankful.
- Don't hammer down on your LEGO bricks to make them stick together. You just need to gently push down. It's easier on your fingers and your mom's ears.
- Build what you know. When I first started sculpting, I tried to create sculptures of things that I had in my apartment. Like an apple or my dog.
- Start your own LEGO Club with friends, family and classmates - then you can pool all of your bricks together to create even bigger sculptures.
- Get inspired. I look at art books to get inspired. Can I recommend, Nathan Sawaya's The Art of the Brick? It has a lot of good photos.
- Follow your dreams. And take life one brick at a time.
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Those who seek immediate gratification after being inspired by Sawaya's art are welcome to visit Zubie's Classroom at Turtle Bay to build custom creations with thousands of LEGO on hand, and can display their pieces of art in the classroom's demonstration area.
Sawaya has been featured on multiple media outlets including CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, NBC's Today Show, ESPN's Cold Pizza, and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Additionally, Nathan builds commissioned custom pieces, such as his recent work for Donald Trump's new hotel in Dubai.
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The Art of the Brick runs May 16, 2009 through January 3, 2010 at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The exhibit is free with Park admission: $13 for visiting adults, $9 for children and seniors; Park admission is always free for Turtle Bay's members.
For more information on Nathan Sawaya and his exhibition, visit www.brickartist.com. For information on Redding's Turtle Bay Exploration Park, including current and upcoming exhibitions, visit www.TurtleBay.org.
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North State Parent Asked Nathan Sawaya To Share More About His Art
The fundamental purpose of my art is to captivate people for as long as I can keep their attention. I strive to create interesting artwork that is unlike anything seen before. LEGO is my current medium of choice and I enjoy pushing the creative envelope with the toy for creating art.
While the sculptures and portraits in the upcoming Turtle Bay exhibit are relatively new, some of the small rectangular plastic bricks were actually those that I had as a child. This is just one of the amazing things about LEGO, the bricks of today still work with those that your parent's enjoyed. Some of my newest sculptures are created from bricks donated to me by folks whose kids have grown out of the toy. I try and use their toy in a new way.
I should point out that in a couple of the photos, you see children who have brought to me their creations to show me. It is such an honor to see kids bring their own creations to my events. It is a great feeling to know that I am inspiring children around the world. Often the kids ask me to sign their bricks, which is pretty neat.
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 Nathan Sawaya Answers Kids Questions
"What is your favorite piece you have made?" ~ Hailey, age 10, Magalia.
Thanks for the great question. It is very difficult to choose any one sculpture as my favorite. I put my heart and soul into my work so all of my sculptures are like my children and I cannot just pick one. I suppose if I had to pick a favorite one, I would say the next one. I truly believe I can create anything and I get excited about being challenged by my next project.
"What kind of glue is used to put the sculptures together? Do you have a computer program that tells you how to build the sculpture, or do you work from what you think in your head?" ~ Simeon, age 11, Chico.
I use a special glue to glue each brick together to make sure my artwork stays in one piece when touring around the world.
When I start to create a sculpture, I first need some inspiration to figure out what I am going to make. Once I figure out what I am going to create, I then try and picture in my mind what the finished piece is going to look like. This may involve me doing research for a while to get ideas as to how something looks exactly. For example, when I built a sculpture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, I spent a lot of time online looking at pictures of T. Rex bones to get a feel for what details are needed to make up the skeleton.
The next step involves sketching out my ideas. I sketch on something called "brickpaper" which is like graph paper but with rectangles the exact size as bricks. In fact, I now have pads of brickpaper available on my website. Eventually, I start building. The good thing about working with LEGO is that if I don't like how something looks after it's built, I can just take it apart and build it again differently.
Author Toby Osborn is a dad of three that moved to Redding (his wife's hometown) to slow down life and spend more time with his wonderful family.
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Have you ever spent a rainy Saturday on the living room floor with a box of LEGO®? Perhaps you created a house, a car, or completed the 500-piece airplane set that was a birthday present...painstakingly following every instruction, smiling in amazement at your finished creation? Both those who grew up with the challenging fun of LEGO and those new to the bricks will surely appreciate Nathan Sawaya's eye-popping art exhibition, The Art of the Brick.
The Art of the Brick exhibition, which focuses solely on LEGO as an art medium, makes its West Coast debut at Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding on May 16th. Millions of bricks in 27 exceptional pieces of art will be showcased, including three-dimensional sculptures and oversized mosaic portraits that will surely inspire you to build!
