Written by: Nikki Cox, Brick Scholars Intern Legacies and Legocies A legacy is what a person leaves behind after his or her life. All people leave behind a legacy of some kind, whether in a will, in having family, and in having that family remember them. Others leave behind a larger legacy, often because they were famous. Some leave behind a legacy of being the first person to do something, such as Amelia Earhart, remembered as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Others leave an imprint on our culture, such as Michael Jackson, with his influence on music, dance, and fashion. Other legacies exist due to a person changing public perception, such as Rosa Parks and her refusal to move on a bus sparking other events within the Civil Rights Movement. There are many ways to leave behind a legacy. Artists, for instance, leave behind the legacy of their art. We are all familiar with da Vinci’s painting of the Sistine Chapel, van Gogh’s blue bedroom, and Monet’s lilies. We are taught in school various media and techniques for drawing, painting, and sculpture. What some might not be familiar with is a new medium for art: the LEGOⓇ brick. Nathan Sawaya is a former lawyer turned artist who uses LEGOⓇ bricks to build sculptures. After coming home from his former day job, Sawaya wanted a creative outlet. Eventually, after trying other media, he turned to his childhood toy to continue developing his craft. His work eventually became so popular that he was able to take an exhibit with pieces entirely made of LEGOⓇ bricks on tour. Andrew Whyte is a long-exposure photographer who takes a LEGOⓇ minifigure, who himself is a photographer, on adventures and documents them. He calls this set of art Legography, and he traveled around the world for 365 days capturing the experiences of his minifigure. Another artist is Sean Kenney, who has been creating sculptures with LEGOⓇ bricks for a variety of clients for over a decade. Like Sawaya, Kenney had a job that did not fulfill his need for creative output, so he left his desk job to pursue his passion. The thing that Kenney focuses on in his art is capturing the spirit of the object he recreates with the bricks. Creating something, having an impact on others in some way, and much more can leave behind a positive legacy. Brick Scholars can help you give a voice to what you want to leave behind with its Legocies Brick by Brick program. You will use LEGOⓇ bricks to build and put into words what you want your legacy to be.
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Hello 6th Grade Team! Brick Scholars is very excited to work with the 6th grade team and conduct Legocies Brick by Brick workshop March 6-10 at Carroll Magnet Middle School. We are condensing a five-day residency into a ninety minute workshop. In order to ensure your success, I would like you to think about some things in preparation for our upcoming workshop. Please read this post and complete the graphic organizer included in that post prior to my visit March 6-10. Some of the LEGO artists we study during Legocies Brick by Brick residency are Nathan Sawaya, Sean Kenney and Legographer, Andrew Wythe. Below you will find videos of their work. Please view these videos and think about what you want to create in our Legocy workshop. The main thing I want you to think about is what is and/or what do you want YOUR legacy to be? Some questions you can ask yourself are: 1. What are your goals for your future? 2. What are you most proud of right now as a 6th grade student? It can be a hobby, a passion, something you excell at, or even something you wish to learn more about. Allow yourself the freedom to explore the possibilities. Here are some articles and videos on Nathan Sawaya's work.
Another LEGO sculptor we study in this residency is Sean Kenney. Here are some videos and articles you can view to learn more about his work. Since we will be taking a large percentage of our time in the workshop to construct a 3D LEGO model, it is important to capture the build (as you will not be able to keep your models). The next LEGO artist I want to introduce you to is Legographer, Andrew Whyte. He is a photographer with a unique traveling companion (mini-figure photographer). During Legacies Brick by Brick residency, students have time to explore photography technique and perspective, but in our workshop, we will not have that much time to dedicate to learning about photography techniques. So, I want you think about how you want to capture your 3D model in a photograph, since you will be pairing your Legocy photo with your written legacy statement. The "magic" will happen when you have your hands on the bricks and you create your Leogcy 3D model in the workshop. It will help you with understanding perspective to take a look at Andrew Whyte's website and view his unique photography. Here are some articles that showcase Andrew Whyte's photographs. Finally, I want to share some videos of Legocy models from students I worked with at A.B. Combs Elementary School. It may give you some ideas as you start to think about your own legacy. I have created a graphic organizer to get you thinking about your legacy and what you want to construct during the workshop. You can download it here. It is OK if you do not know exactly what you want to build. It will help though if you take some time to explore Nathan Sawaya's and Andrew Whyte's LEGO artwork.
I look forward to seeing you March 6-10 at Carroll Magnet Middle School. We are going to have an exciting week. Brick-tastically Yours, Megan Oteri CEO and Founder, Brick Scholars One of the influences on Brick Scholars’ pedagogy is Constructionism, which is when the
hands create knowledge, so does the mind. Literature and language back up this idea, as does neuroscience. A look at mythology allows us to see that the Ancient Greeks believe in the power the hand-mind connection [1]. Athena was born straight from Zeus’ head, fully formed. As a product of his brain, she became the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, but she is also the goddess of weaving and handiwork. Clearly even thousands of years ago, ancient peoples understood the power this connection. Etymology can also give us a look at this partnership. Brain cells are also called “neurons,” and the roots for that word come from Ancient Greek roots for the words “fiber,” “cord,” or “thread.” Brain cells, then, are thought to be connected to something else. One of those things is the hand, which helps us to understand the world around us. Babies as young as two weeks old start reaching out for things in front of them; it’s an instinct to learn through touch. With a touch, those neurons start making connections in the brain. From a neuroscience standpoint, this connection is integral to learning, especially to what Brick Scholars does. The corpus callosum is the part of the brain that links the two halves of the brain together [2]. The left side of the brain is what performs the logical tasks, such as science or math. The right side of the brain is associated more with creativity. So the corpus callosum is what gets the brain from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to STEAM (Arts), which is what Brick Scholars offers. Children can make connections between STEM and the Arts, putting them together for creativity, imagination, and voice, all the while using their hands, which affects the pathways and neurons in the brain. When the brain changes due to experiences, behavior, and thoughts, this is called neuroplasticity [3]. While most people associate this term with the brain having to “rewire” after an injury, it also explains why musicians have more “space” in their brains dedicated to hand motions and why taxi drivers have more “space” for spatial reasoning. The more people do with their hands, the more pathways the brain makes; it’s like a workout for your brain. Brick Scholars can help create more pathways through the power of your hands. And you might be surprised what you find out! 95% of what underlies our actions and behaviors are unconscious [4], and working with your hands is a great way to unleash knowledge you didn’t know you had. References: [1] Auer, Arthur. “Hand Movements Sculpt Intelligence.” Learning About the World Through Modeling—Sculptural Ideas for School and Home. Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. [2] Lynch, Matthew. “From STEM to STEAM: More Than Just a Good Idea.” The Tech Edvocate. 2016. [3] Liou, Stephanie. “Neuroplasticity.” Huntington’s Outreach Project for Education, at Stanford. 2010. [4] Szegedy-Maszak, Marianne. “Mysteries of the Mind.” US News and World Report. Written by Nikki Cox, Brick Scholars intern |
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