December 2, 2011 – February 20 , 2012
JUST ANNOUNCED:
Sunday, January 22 at noon
Nathan Sawaya, the artist who created the LEGO sculptures in The Art of the Brick® exhibition, will talk about his work and inspiration. Event includes: talk by the artist, followed by Q&A and book/poster signings (available for sale at the museum).
Tickets: $15/members; $20/non-members, includes museum admission.
Call 973.971.3706 for tickets
Special opportunity, limited to 30 people: $100 ticket includes: "Coffee with the creator of The Art of the Brick" from 10:30-11:30 a.m., breakfast buffet, ticket and VIP seating for 12 pm talk, and poster signed by the artist.
Enter our Facebook contest to win a free The Art of the Brick poster.
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 [details below].
Image above: Yellow, Nathan Sawaya brickartist.com
Read the Daily Record feature here
Read The Record feature here.
Read The Star-Ledger profile here.
Watch the NJTV interview
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.
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.
 Artist’s Statement
Speaking about The Art of the Brick, Nathan Sawaya says, “I use LEGO bricks as my medium because I enjoy seeing people’s reactions to artwork created from something with which they are familiar. Everyone can relate to it since it is a toy that many children have at home. I want to elevate this simple plaything to a place it has never been before, and to open the art world to children through a familiar medium. I also appreciate the cleanliness of the medium: the right angles and the distinct lines. As so often in life, it is a matter of perspective. Up close, the shape of the brick is distinctive. But from a distance, those right angles and distinct lines change to curves.”
Image above: Nathan Sawaya with his sculpture, Cello, Photo:brickartist.com
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 email programs@morrismuseum.org or call 973.971.3720.
Build Historical Morristown (offered twice)
January 14, 2012, 2 –4 p.m. OR January 19, 6- 8 p.m.
Windmills and Wind Power
January 28, 2012 2-4 p.m.
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.
To register for a Building Blocks Workshop, visit
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
211 South Street
Morristown, NJ 07960
Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sat./Sun. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m
Payment by cash or check. For more information, email programs@morrismuseum.org
January 20, 2012 | 10:00 a.m.
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-registratoin is not required.
January 22 at noon
Nathan Sawaya, the artist who created the LEGO sculptures in The Art of the Brick® exhibition, will talk about his work and inspiration. Event includes: talk by the artist, followed by Q&A and book/poster signing (available for sale at the museum). Tickets: $15/members; $20/non-members, includes museum admission.
Call 973.971.3706 for tickets
Special opportunity, limited to 30 people: $100 ticket includes: "Coffee with the creator of The Art of the Brick" from 10:30-11:30 a.m., breakfast buffet, ticket and VIP seating for 12 pm talk, and poster signed by the artist. |
