Lego® Art: Some Assembly Required - Mon., Sep. 8

About 9 a.m., after being stuck in a traffic jam on I-37, I met Susan at the San Antonio Botanic Garden where we are both members. The reason for our visit? An art installation of Lego® block sculptures by one of 14 Lego® Certified Professionals worldwide. The art exhibit is titled: Nature Connects. The show will be at the San Antonio Botanic Garden until Jan. 4, 2015.

About the sculptures:
The 27 sculptures on display in the Nature Connects Exhibit were built from nearly half a million Lego® bricks. The artist, Sean Kenney, used only basic rectangular and flat Lego® bricks in readily available colors.

The mother bison took the most bricks to create, exactly 45,143. The tallest sculptures are "The Rose" and the "Hummingbird and Flower," which are both more than 6' tall.

The larger works have an internal structure of steel rods and plates to provide support and balance. It took Sean eight months to create all the sculptures.

The artist, Sean Kenney, spent so much time playing with Lego® bricks growing up, he decided he might as well make a career out of it. He has been turning Lego® bricks into incredible works of art for almost a decade. A recent magazine article described Sean's life as a "never-ending block party." (Great pun!)

You might be interested in some Lego® factoids posted on a sign in the garden:

• The Lego® group is a privately held company based in Denmark. It was founded in 1932.
• The word Lego® is a combination of the Danish words Leg Godt, which means "play well."
• The classic Lego® brick was patented in 1958 [when I was six years old!].
• Nearly 600 billion Lego® elements have been manufactued.
• The Lego® brick was declared the "Toy of the Century" by Fortune Magazine in 1999.
• Lego® bricks are available in more than 50 colors.
• The Lego® bricks sold in one year would circle the world five times.

Susan and I had a blast. We loved all the colorful sculptures and their placement in natural settings. For example, the Goldfinches installation blended right into the Formal and Display Gardens. In fact, we had to look for it! See for yourselves. Even the "bird food" is made of Legos®.

Goldfinches Lego® exhibit (575 pieces each)

Goldfinches

Because we arrived at 9 a.m. when the garden opened, it wasn't too hot and there were very few people around. We spent about 1-1/2 hours exploring the garden grounds searching out the sculptures. (We did have a map to help us.)

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly by Sean Kenney (37,481 pieces)

Hummingbird and Flower

Hanging out with the big chairs.

Susan M. found her happy place.

The following two photos are NOT Lego® bricks, they are dead trees painted in bright colors. Susan is talking to one of the botanic garden workers asking if they are going to make the colorful trees a permanent display.

Susan with botanic garden worker

Reminds me of some colorful trees we saw in Sacramento, CA.

Lego® rose in the Rose Garden (41,242 pieces)

Very realistic-looking Lego® lawn mower! (13,704 pieces)

Germinating acorn under an oak tree.
(15,581 pieces)

Pretty fountains

More over-sized art chairs (not Lego®)

Real orchids.

Koi Lego® art (1,937 pieces) on display in a pond

Water platter [lily pad] and koi Lego® art in pond.
(Water platter: 10,598 pieces; frog: 530 pieces)

Lego® bee hanging from rafters

Lego® bee

Real cactus flower and buzzing bee

Lego® Common Green Darner Dragonfly in the lake.
(6,535 pieces)

Lego® Gardener in the garden. (37,497 pieces)

Lego® Fox and Rabbit

Lego® Bison and Calf in the "prairie."

Lego® bird on back of bison

Lego® Bison and Calf (another view)

In addition to the Lego® sculptures, here are flowers in bloom...

Amaryllis?

Passion flower

Datura candida

HUGE hibiscus

Datura metel

And that was our morning. We enjoyed our walk with Lego® art.

After we parted ways, I headed to Walmart to do some shopping. Then it was off to Costco where I stocked up on salad fixings, almond milk and ground turkey. Back at the 5er, I made a huge pot of spaghetti and a big green salad. We had a very good dinner tonight.

Travel Bug out.