Legos move from playroom to garden in 'Nature Connects'

Imagine a 60-pound bumblebee, a seven-foot-tall rose or a butterfly with a five-foot wingspan. You can actually see these and 24 more incredible Lego sculptures at the “Nature Connects” exhibit at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Va.

Yes, artist Sean Kenney uses the same Lego pieces you use in your much smaller creations — but he uses a lot more of them. For example, it took 31,565 Lego bricks to create a humdinger of a hummingbird feeding from a trumpet flower.

Kenney, who is 39 and lives in New York, was a major fan of the popular building bricks as a child. On his website, he notes that through his teenage years and into adulthood, “my models became more elaborate and involved as I got older. Now it's my full-time career.”

Imagine turning a childhood passion into a profession. How cool is that?

He builds his sculptures around steel frames, glues each piece in place, then covers the finished figure with a protective coating. The huge butterfly took nine weeks to design and build. There is a lot of trial and error, meaning he doesn't always get it right on the first try. “I often have to step back and examine the model from all sides as it's coming together ... often taking sections apart and rebuilding them.”

Just as you connect Lego bricks to each other to make something special, “Nature Connects” illustrates how “everything in nature is interconnected in a delicate balance. Insects and plants have important relationships; different species of animals have special relationships with each other; animals have connections with their families just like we do.”

At Lewis Ginter, helpful signs explain those connections as you explore about a mile of winding paved paths, past beautiful plants, ponds and fountains. Learn about the balance of nature as a Lego fox seems to be sneaking up on a Lego rabbit in the grass. Learn about the incredible flight maneuvers made by dragonflies or how hummingbirds get nectar from deep inside flowers.

For Bradley Williams, 9, of Bowie, Md., a bison and calf made of more than 61,000 Lego bricks were “amazing!”

Kenney says that being successful with Lego creations is “more about using your brain and having creative ideas” than about learning a specific technique. “Like a pencil, clay or paint, Lego pieces are simple enough for a 3-year-old but versatile enough to create serious, thought-provoking, beautiful works of art.”

“Nature Connects” runs through Sept. 18 at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Virginia. Details: 804-262-9887 or lewisginter.org

Ann Cameron Siegal is a Washington Post contributing writer.