Lego artist Sean Kenney’s Nature connects sculptures are made from Lego building bricks – and a vivid imagination. His brilliant birds, bison, flowers, bees, and butterflies dot the grounds of the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Add in that this is the perfect time of year to view a bevy of blossoming flowers and trees, this is really an exhibition that’s not to be missed.
The Lego art appeals on a variety of different levels. For kids, and young-at-heart adults, it’s just plain fun. It’s also quite wonderful sculpture made with a fascinating medium. Haven’t you always wondered if you could make ART from LEGO bricks? And settled instead for a tottering tower, or reading the instructions to assemble a specific by the numbers figure? But always you’ve wondered…or at least I have, whether those bricks couldn’t be made into art. And here it is.
There’s a true sense of innocence and awe surrounding the pieces. The glorious butterfly and large scale hummingbird that greet visitors at the start of the exhibit are charming, but walk further for the truly inspiring pieces.
The bison and calf located in Sakura Meadow are exquisitely rendered: you can see the shadows of light shifting over their Lego “fur.”
I loved the straight-from-Beatrix-Potter storybooks feel of the rabbit & fox in mid-chase in the Discovery Garden promenade, and the goldfinches with bird feeder in the Zoo garden. There’s a surprising amount of nuance in the pieces, and their installation at specific spots in the gardens feel carefully curated, too. The Victoria waterplatters, one with a frog, and which I would refer to as lily pads, are well served in a more remote area of the park; coming upon them they feel organic to the setting.
A map provided by the garden indicates where the seventeen sculptures are to be found, or visitors can take a fifty-minute walking tour of the exhibit led by docents.
As much as I love the art behind these clever pieces, let’s not forget that this exhibit is simply a whole lot of fun, and is sure to draw more visitors to the garden than would come to simply sniff the flowers or see coral trees, cherry blossoms, and jade trees in bloom.
The garden itself is an experience to be savored: small enough to attract local families with small kids, and with enough quiet corners to provide a meditative respite for weary adults.
Nature Connects will be on display through May 8th; with hours daily from 9-5. The garden is located at 26300 Crenshaw Blvd. in Palos Verdes, just a short jaunt up the hill from the city of Torrance and the 405 freeway off-ramp. 
- Genie Davis; photos Genie Davis and Cheryl Henderson