Columbus Museum of Art reimagines Columbus through Lego exhibition

Andrew Horne
Thu, 20 May 2021 02:19:19 +0000
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The “Think Outside the Brick” exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art on Thursday, April 29, 2021. Credit: Andrew Horne | Lantern Reporter

Visitors at the Columbus Museum of Art can revisit childhood nostalgia in the form of the Think Outside the Brick Lego exhibition on display this summer.

The annual Lego exhibition, on display now through August 20, features a variety of designs built by the Ohio Lego Users Group, a group of adults who have rediscovered the joy of creating with Lego blocks, according to the organization’s Facebook page. This is the ninth year the OhioLUG designed an exhibit for the museum, Hannah Mason-Macklin, manager of interpretation and engagement at the CMOA and project coordinator for the Lego exhibition, said.

The Lego exhibit features replicas of Columbus landmarks in the display, such as the One Nationwide Plaza building and the CMOA itself, in addition to designs based on other settings, such as a beach and a putt-putt course, Mason-Macklin said.

“There are definitely some buildings and areas where there [are] Columbus landmarks and are recognizable,” Mason-Macklin said. “And then it gets to some more imaginary, either pop culture references or just the imagination of the OhioLUG members.”

The exhibition was originally set to open November 2020 but was delayed by COVID-19, Josh Wilke, president of the OhioLUG, said. Featuring well over one million Lego bricks, the group began planning and building the original exhibit in June 2020.

“We stopped counting after a million,” Wilke said. “But I could see there being four, five million pieces in there.”

In addition to the reimagined Columbus cityscape, the exhibition also displays mosaic replicas of famous pieces of art, such as “Schokko with Red Hat” by Alexej Jawlensky, Mason-Macklin said.

“We also have Lego mosaics on the wall, and a lot of them reference well-known fine art pieces, some of them that we have in our own collection,” Mason-Macklin said. “You can kind of see a Lego interpretation of a painting we have in another gallery, which is super fun.”

Mason-Macklin said the exhibit reimagines the creative process and can broaden the experience the museum offers the community. The exhibit is designed for guests of all ages, regardless of one’s experience with Lego.

“It’s just so amazing and inspiring, just what an individual, what a group of people can do together if they’re using their imagination,” Mason-Macklin said. “I think community-wide, it offers a new experience to the art museum experience, and since we’ve been having it continuously, it also is really great just for building memories with your friends or your family — whoever you came with.”

To compensate for the delay in opening, Wilke said the group adjusted the exhibition to feature a summer-centric design in the display: a putt-putt golf course. The putt-putt course, which Wilke said features different themes such as Super Mario and buried treasure at each hole, replaced a winter village design originally set to be featured in the winter exhibit.

“Because our exhibit changed to run in the summertime rather than over the wintertime, we decided to scrap it,” Wilke said.

The OhioLUG builders found it challenging to realistically display elevation changes in different settings in the exhibit, Wilke said.

“Because of COVID, and instead of being able to have that one large, flat canvas for everyone to participate in, we chopped it up a little bit — so it was easier, like a small group, one or two people, could maybe work more closely to coordinate on exactly how their pieces may fit together,” Wilke said.

Visitors can view the Lego exhibit for free with a general admission ticket to the CMOA, Mason-Macklin said. Guests are asked to register for a time slot through the CMOA website ahead of time to help maintain the museum’s COVID-19 guidelines.