Do you remember playing with LEGO bricks as a kid? Perhaps you’ve even continued that activity into adulthood. Whether you can barely click two pieces together or have constructed LEGO sets containing hundreds or thousands of bricks, there’s a special joy in making your own creation.
Sean Kenney knows that joy. He was the world’s first LEGO Certified Professional and has spent many, many hours with LEGO bricks. He’s put together multiple exhibits that pair nature, wildlife, and humanity, and that’s on full display at Nature Pop!, featured at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden throughout the summer.
Over 800,000 LEGO bricks in Sean Kenney’s Nature Pop!
Kenney is a New York-based, award-winning artist whose craftsmanship has been recognized by The LEGO Group. He’s produced several contemporary sculptures, large-scale traveling exhibits, judged the TV show “LEGO Masters,” and written nine children’s books. And the haters said playing with toys would never pay off!
Nature Pop! features over 40 sculptures made from more than 800,000 LEGO pieces. They’re all hanging out throughout the garden, with some even viewable from the parking lot or before you enter the garden.
Kenney made Nature Pop! to highlight a simple idea: “Just like LEGO bricks, everything in nature is connected. Pull one piece away and the whole picture changes.”
This collection is a cool pairing of art and science. Each work has a “Think Like an Artist” and a “Think Like a Scientist” section to educate visitors on both elements, providing insight into how Kenney made his creations and facts about those real-life animals.
I spent a day inside the Fort Worth Botanic Garden to explore Nature Pop! Let’s take a tour of the highlights.
My 5 favorite LEGO animal creations
There are two dozen exhibits throughout the Fort Worth Botanic Garden as part of the Nature Pop! Collection, comprising more than 40 animals. They’re all worth seeing, though some are more impressive than others. Here were my five favorites:
Rabbits and Gardeners
The first entry on the list, and we’re already dodging the rules by combining two sculptures. Nevertheless, this is the opening image of the gardens as soon as you step inside, past the ticketing area. And it’s like a scene straight out of a Disney movie. Several colorful rabbits adorn a few lawns, with gardeners tending to the grass alongside them.
Real-life rabbits can sport a variety of colors, including unique hues such as frosted pearl, lilac, and opal agouti. However, those animals aren’t nearly as vibrant as Kenney’s creations. The whole collection of rabbits took 11 hours to build and consists of 1,496 bricks.
Polar Bear & Cubs
A few of the Nature Pop! sculptures feel like bonus pieces of art because they feature multiple creatures. The rabbit soiree is one such sculpture. The polar bear and cubs is a second. Just when you think you’ve seen all of the animals here, you might spot a creature peeking out from under its mama or another clinging to her back.
And let’s not kid ourselves; this whole setting is super cute. Look at all those cuddly bears! The various blue hues symbolize the receding glaciers of the Arctic, which are the natural habitats of polar bears. While you’re admiring this work, take a moment to applaud Kenney’s perseverance. He spent 389 hours building this sculpture, using 112,450 bricks along the way.
Woodpecker
Did you know that what a bird eats can impact its coloring? For example, flamingos are pink because they have a diet heavy in shrimp and algae (and a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance. Simply delightful.) More recently, some yellow woodpeckers have developed red feathers because they love chowing down on honeysuckle berries.
With that in mind, this woodpecker might very soon look like a lava lamp, as it’s munching on a red, orange, and yellow tree. There are several holes around the tree, so the woodpecker has done an excellent job whetting its beak. This work uses 32,650 bricks and took Kenney 124 hours to construct.
Zebra
We love a well-dressed, dapper animal, and this zebra’s orange bow tie is a terrific pop of color. It certainly lends itself to the playfulness of a box of LEGO bricks, but that’s not all. Kenney constructed this zebra in a way that it sometimes appears two-dimensional, like an alternate-universe animal version of the Mona Lisa. This work is among the most laborious in the entire park. Kenney took 279 hours to finish it, using 73,500 bricks.
The stripes of zebra patterns not only look cool—and lead to one of the punchlines to the joke “what’s black and white and red all over?” (answer: a sunburned zebra)—but they also serve a biological purpose. Flies would normally feast on a zebra’s skin for a little snacking. Instead, they become disoriented by the optical illusion the stripes cause and wind up leaving the zebra alone.
Tree Frog Mural
In addition to the sculptures, Kenney has created several murals to adorn the park. I’m a fan of tree frogs in any situation. Once, during a trip to Costa Rica, I took a guided nature walk tour. The guide found a pair of tree frogs and put them on my arm. “Hoppy hour,” he said with a grin. It was magical.
Alas, you can’t tip this mural onto your arm, though it’s still a sight to behold. Kenney spent 36 hours building this piece, amassing 18,432 bricks to make it happen. The yellow starburst behind the smiling frog is such a fantastic contrast that you can’t help but smile. Tree frogs can open their eyes incredibly wide, a move used to shock predators into a stunned state. Then, the frogs can make their escape.
How to see the Nature Pop! collection
The Nature Pop! collection is on display at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden throughout the summer. Other attractions are also still open, such as the Japanese Tea Garden. And don’t be afraid to explore a bit—you never know what magical moments you’ll discover!
- Location: Fort Worth Botanic Garden: 3220 Botanic Garden Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107
- Hours: Open daily from 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Last entry is at 5 p.m., and FWBG members can get early admission at 7 a.m.
- Dates: Nature Pop! is running from May 22 to Sept. 7.
- Pricing: Free with garden entry. $14–$15 for adults, $12–$13 for seniors, $8–$9 for children, infants two and under are free. Attendees visiting during the World Cup and wearing a soccer jersey will receive half off their admission ticket. Members receive free entry.
- Additional information: Learn more about Nature Pop! and download a virtual map here.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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