The sound of little hands digging into bins of LEGO still brings me such joy. I don’t hear it much anymore now that my boys are teens and the buckets of LEGO have been tucked to the side. (That doesn’t mean that I don’t catch them from time to time revisiting their most prized build or dipping into the bins in the basement.) While they’ve outgrown the regular visits to Legoland Discovery Centre and moved on from asking for the latest LEGO product, I knew they’d be interested in checking out the new ART OF THE BRICK exhibition in Toronto.
The Art of the Brick features some of the 130 sculptures created by American artist Nathan Sawaya, a lawyer turned artist who has been creating art for the last 20 years using LEGO bricks. His works have been around the world, and is now on display near Downsview (YZD) in Toronto.
The exhibit is grouped into four sections, the first being reimagined tableaus and sculptures of some of the most famous art pieces like the Mona Lisa and Michaelangelo’s David. There are a number of the artist’s original works — kids will certainly love the six-metre long T-Rex skeleton and the great big sculpture of a face. My teens in TOw loved the endangered animal sculptures made out of LEGO (I personally thought the cheetah and the polar bear and cub were super well done). The last room features some life-sized LEGO sculptures placed alongside huge photography that includes the LEGO piece —- a fun little find-the-LEGO-sculpture in the photo game for the littler kids.
LEGO doesn’t just come in boxes with building instructions. LEGO can be anything you want it to be —- it’s an outlet for kids of all ages to create, build and experiment. Too often simply playing with the bricks morphs into an obsession with watching unboxing and other people building Lego online, where the piles of pieces from past builds sit unused because we’re chasing the next set.
ART OF THE BRICK reminds us that LEGO is about creativity and possibilities. Here’s to hearing more playful brick-on-brick sounds!
TRIP TIPS:
Getting there: The Art of the Brick is at 30 Hanover Road, North York near Downsview Airport / The Hangar. On TTC, it’s a 30 min walk from Wilson subway stop, driving, there is paid parking available (~$4 for 3 hours).
Low-down: Good for all ages. There were a lot of families with tweens and teens visiting when we were there. The experience is more museum/gallery than hands-on exhibit. Some of the larger creations are cordoned off, but most are still an arms-length away, so tempting to touch for the little ones. Tickets prices start from $20 for adults/ $15 for children. Kids under 4 are free.
There are a couple of tables where you can work on your own LEGO createsand a larger LEGO pit just outside the exhibit with duplo-sized Lego for the littler ones in TOw.
Small café, small store selling exhibit-themed products and a few Lego sets.
In the hood: While in the area, visit the Hangar and Downsview YZD for activities like rock climbing at True North Climbing, go-karting at K1 Speedway and parkour at Monkey Vault. In walking distance of the ART OF THE BRICK is a small playground at Robert Leek Park. A short drive away is Downsview Park with an awesome aviation-themed playground and walking paths.
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