The Art of the Brick®
WHEN: December 2, 2011 – February 20 , 2012
WHERE: The Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown
Visitors to the Morris Museum this winter will be delighted by a new exhibition featuring over 25 awe-inspiring and thought-provoking large-scale sculptures created out of LEGO® bricks by artist Nathan Sawaya. While the exhibition is on view, a special area will be set up where visitors, inspired by Sawaya's work, can build their own fantastic LEGO creations. Several special programs are planned, including a People’s Choice LEGO Competition at the Dec. 27 Toyland Family Festival, and, in January, a series of architect-led LEGO community architectural workshops. (Image: Yellow, Nathan Sawaya, brickartist.com)
Read the Star-Ledger profile here.
About Nathan Sawaya and The Art of the Brick®
Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates large-scale sculptures and oversized mosaic portraits using only toy building blocks: LEGO bricks. A common toy is elevated to the status of fine art through Sawaya’s ability to transform LEGO bricks into something new. The sculptures on view in The Art of the Brick are beautiful and playful, yet obsessively and painstakingly crafted, reflecting Sawaya’s devotion to scale and color perfection, and the way he conceptualizes the action of the subject matter. (Left: Nathan Sawaya with his sculpture, Cello, Photo: brickartist.com)
Sawaya works on his own, using the same LEGO bricks that are sold at toy stores (no special colors or bricks are made for him by the LEGO company). A life-size, human-form sculpture typically takes 2-4 weeks to complete, depending on the complexity, and has 15,000-25,000 bricks.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Sawaya moved to New York City in 1991 to attend New York University. After college, he rediscovered his childhood passion for LEGO, not as a toy, but rather as a medium for his art. His creations were built from standard bricks beginning as early as 2000. Today Sawaya has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his New York art studio. Sawaya has been featured on leading talk shows and news programs, including The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Colbert Report and CBS Sunday Morning. For more information on Nathan Sawaya and The Art of the Brick, visit www.brickartist.com.
Special Programs
In conjunction with The Art of the Brick exhibition, the Morris Museum is offering special programs for visitors of all ages. For more information, please e-mail programs@morrismuseum.org or call 973.971.3720.
Toyland Family Festival
People’s Choice LEGO® Competition
WHEN: Tuesday, December 27, 11 AM – 4 PM
ADMISSION: Included with museum admission: $7-$10; Members: Free
Bring in your best LEGO creation for judging by attendees at the festival. Enjoy LEGO challenges throughout the day.
Building Blocks
LEGO® Community Architectural Workshops
- Build Historical Morristown (offered twice)
WHEN: January 14, 2012, 1 – 3 PM & January 21, 6- 8 PM - Windmills and Wind Power
WHEN: January 28, 2012 1-3 PM
FEE: $40 per workshop per family (up to four members)
Building Blocks Workshop programs use LEGO building blocks as a fun activity for children and their parents to learn about their community’s architectural heritage. Each two hour program is a fast paced, hands on, model-building experience where the goal is for 50 families to create 50 buildings using over 50,000 LEGO® building blocks. Stephen W. Schwartz AIA, Architect, of Livingston, NJ, leads the programs.
Tot Tour
WHEN: January 20, 2012, 10:00 AM
ADMISSION: Free with museum admission
Explore large scale LEGO sculptures by artist Nathan Sawaya in this fun and enriching program for children ages 2-5 and their caregivers. Activities include a mini gallery tour and an art project. Tours run 30-40 minutes. Pre-registration is not required.
