Rebirth of New Orleans

[uppityperson]

http://www.brickartist.com/rebirth_of_new_orleans.html ---
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Drawings submitted by kids

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My latest project was a very special one. As part of the LEGO Builders of Tomorrow campaign, I was commissioned to build a large sculpture for permanent installation at the New Orleans Public Library. The sculpture celebrates the rebirth of New Orleans.

I drew my inspiration from the many drawings that the campaign received from children across the country. Children were asked to draw and write about what they felt was important for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Through the thousands of pictures, I definitely noticed that no matter where they were from, all kids had very similar ideas about what was important for a city. It would need a fire station, a hospital, schools and a park. They were drawn in different styles and a plethora of colors, but I saw these themes repeated again and again. Other common themes included hotels, houses and libraries. In the end, I used these drawings as inspiration to create the sculpture.

I really wanted to capture the look of the drawings by making the buildings brightly colored, slightly crooked or slanted in places, and the windows not always lining up.

The piece took me over six weeks to build and I used over 120,000 LEGO
elements. It's permanently on display in the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library.

[appal_jack]

1. k&r

This is hopeful & inspiring stuff...

-app

[MissWaverly]

2. Great job, I am impressed

I like taking the kids viewpoint

[Robbien]

3. fire station, a hospital, schools and a park

Geeze. The kids only mention these things because they must be missing these things.

Could you imagine what could be done in NO if all this time the corporate media is spending on celebrity news was spent instead on NO.

No media attention, problem can be safely ignored.

[EFerrari]

4. K&R

:loveya:

[DFW]

5. Here's a sound track for you

http://www.thefreedomtoast.com/downloads.php

The "Spirit of New Orleans" song is a free download.

[IndyOp]

6. Look what else he made:

:D

[uppityperson]

7. Neat, I missed that one.

[Melissa G]

8. Great piece! K&R!!!

Nice use of kids medium and point of view which implies implicit hope. God knows we need it!

[OneBlueSky]

9. wow . . . very neat stuff! . . . kicked/recommended . . . n/t

.

[intheflow]

10. How beautiful!

I used to live by the Lego plant in Connecticut, and these huge, detailed pieces of Lego art never ceased to fascinate and enchant me. I've only got a few more weeks in the hurricane zone, but I would love to get to NOLA one last time and see this in person.



*Edited to add:

This guy is really funny! Here's his explaination of his piece called "Jack the Dog":

"Jack is a Bernese Mountain dog. Bernese Mountain dogs are working dogs with origins in the farm areas of Switzerland. Switzerland is a country that remains neutral. Neutral is the gear I thought my father's car was in when I stepped on the gas and slammed it into the garage door. The Doors sang a song called "Light My Fire." Fire is how I lost the feeling in my right index finger. Finger licking good is how I like my chicken. Chicken was my unfortunate nickname when I played soccer. Soccer was the only intramural sport I played in college. College is where I found out that I don't know jack. Jack is a Bernese Mountain dog."