Blockheads

When my brother took custody of me from The Girl just after Christmas this winter, our first stop was the Columbus Museum of Art.  My brother and I were both excited to see the exhibit of Lego Art (this turned out to be art both About and Of Lego).  There were a couple smaller, interactive installations on the first floor which allowed visitors to make their own creations and leave them on display, and an exhibit of models built by local students and adults.  I saw a tiny card on an otherwise empty shelf proclaiming "the Lego mouse was here," and naturally assumed the little bugger was still lurking nearby.  I finally spotted him on some moulding upstairs.

He was keeping an eye on the actual Lego exhibit, which included Cutaway Man-style models of two minifigures (each was taller than Nephew, throwing serious doubt upon the descriptor "mini") and some paintings, but I was much more interested in the art made of Legos.  Unfortunately, so was Nephew, who didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to play with anything in this room full of great toys, and was even more frustrated when we wouldn't even let him touch the ground, because that was the quickest path to aforementioned toys.  We didn't spend much time in the Lego gallery.

"Bicycle Triumphs Traffic," as it should.

We did get to see enough to appreciate the beauty of the brick, and the inventiveness of many of those who work in that medium, including several examples I had already seen in the fantastic Beautiful LEGO book, which my aunt had from the library when I visited over Thanksgiving.  I'll admit that Nephew and I both made a lot of the same excited noises in that room, and I was just as frustrated as he was that we didn't get to play more.

Detail of "Bicycle Triumphs Traffic."  The vehicles surrounding the bike were made from over 75,000 Lego bricks by visitors to a Lego fan event in North Carolina.