Huge Lego sculptures arrive at South Coast Botanic Garden
When 10-year-old Zach Blum of Rancho Palos Verdes spotted the large hummingbird sculpture created out of 31,565 Lego bricks at the South Coast Botanic Garden, he thought it was pretty neat.
“I’d like to know how they balanced the nose on top,” Blum said.
The 27 bigger-than-life plastic Lego animals and plants grabbing attention are part of the “Nature Connects” interactive art installation opening Friday.
During Tuesday morning’s preview event, unsuspecting visitors like Blum and his mother strolled through the blooming garden and couldn’t seem to resist gravitating toward the colorful statues made from more than 500,000 plastic bricks.
Patty Manthe of Redondo Beach accompanied her young children as they played near a rose that’s 7 feet tall.
“The rose reminds me of the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ” Manthe said.
For many, the Lego bricks harken back to a nostalgic time, said Adrienne Nakashima, CEO of the South Coast Botanic Garden.
“Even the adults, when we’ve talked to them about the exhibit, they’ve recalled their childhood and what playing with Legos meant for them,” Nakashima said. “I just thought it made sense to bring something like this here. What a great way to get kids, families and adults connected back to nature. And what’s a better metaphor for connection than Lego bricks?”
The Lego statues, created by New York-based artist Sean Kenney, took seven months to build. They range in size from a 575-piece sculpture of a goldfinch to a 45-143-piece bison that stands over 6 feet tall.
The exhibit of 27 nature-themed sculptures occupying 15 distinct sections of the garden runs through May 8. Alongside the exhibit, the botanic garden will feature activities for kids that include building stations with loose bricks, a raceway to race Lego-constructed cars, a Lego building contest, and a reading lounge and pop-up library with books about building with Legos sponsored by the Palos Verdes Library District.
Visitors also can download a customized mobile app to unlock “hidden” facts as well as a map to each sculpture.
The Nature Connects exhibit has been touring North America for more than a year, and the South Coast Botanic Garden installation is the only Southern California stop this year.
“This is the first botanic garden in Southern California to offer this one-of-a-kind and engaging artistic vision, representing a whole new way to experience nature through art,” Nakashima said.
For more information and tickets, visit southcoastbotanicgarden.org.
