Local vistors weren’t the only ones, however. Representatives from LEGO Corporate were in attendance, including LEGO’s US headquarters in Enfield, CT and the “home office’ in Billund, Denmark. AFOLs joined the conference from Canada, Taiwan, and US states as far away as Hawaii and Washington.

I was delighted this year that my wife Molly could join me, and help me introduce Brickworkz to the thousands of visitors that came through. This year, I brought a special project with me.

Funded by Dan Brown at the Toy and Plastic Brick Museum in Bellaire, Ohio, “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” was a hit. The piece was built on transparent Lego base plates. Translucent, colored Lego pieces comprised the mosaic, which meant that light could pass through the entire mosaic. Here’s a video of me putting this Lego art together:

This piece, along with my award-winning Wall-E mosaic, Baby Mia, and a new artsy project called “Brick’s Breath” came with me to Tyson’s. I met thousands of people and was delighted to share my art with them.

We came home exhausted but thrilled from the creativity boost that happens when you get that many LEGO fans in a room together.

The process of transferring my mosaics takes a while, as I had to remove them from their prominent display at 8th & Main streets downtown and borrow a vehicle (thanks, Karen!) to haul them over in a few trips to Crossroads in the West End.

On Friday, several hundred people will arrive to tour the new art on display from 25 artists. It’s a huge gallery opener, with catered food and a live band. I’m looking forward to sharing my Lego art with the Arts community of Richmond, many of whom will be present.

Pictures are coming soon!

The 10th annual Grief Relief Gala was a black-tie affair silent and live auction event held at the Science Museum of Virginia to raise funds for Comfort Zone Camp. The item up for bid in the Grief Relief Gala’s live auction was a “Custom LEGO mosaic by Brickworkz,” sized 30″ x 30.” Bidding started at $800 and rapidly increased to $1,100 in the crowd of several hundred people.

“I am so thrilled to raise so much money for Comfort Zone,” Brickworkz founder Brian Korte said. Korte, a Comfort Zone Camp volunteer, contributed the custom LEGO mosaic, along with a completed mosaic entitled “Healing Hands” to the Grief Relief auction. “The camp is free to the kids, so fundraising is so important to [Comfort Zone], and I was honored to be a part of it.” The “Healing Hands” mosaic was designed by Brian Korte of Brickworkz but built by campers at the week-long August camp as an arts and crafts activity.

Total values are not yet in as to the evening’s finances, but it is assumed that Comfort Zone benefited significantly from the Richmond community’s involvement and participation in the Gala and its auctions.

About Brickworkz LLC:
Brickworkz began in 2004 to create art and conversation pieces for people from a unique medium- LEGO. Founder Brian Korte has created works for Fortune 500 companies and private clients all over the world, and currently holds the Guinness World Record for designing the world’s Largest Lego image. Please visit www.brickworkz.com for more information.

About Comfort Zone Camp:
Grieving children often become miniature adults before they should have to. Comfort Zone provides a fun and safe healing environment where kids can have fun, be around people who “get it” and get back to being kids again. Please visit www.comfortzonecamp.org for more information.

We net throughout the summer and Fall, and I completed my projects as early as possible, considering we were having our wedding a week before the party was to begin. In October, I finished the Cougar Lego portrait – a mosaic of the school mascot, built entirely from 20,800 Lego bricks. Video below:

In January, I pre-built a significant portion of the lettering for the school’s logo and spent a full day at school, working on the Lego mosaic with the kids from the lower school. In 20 minute waves, I would introduce myself, tell the kids a bit about the work that I’ve done building mosaic portraits, and then point them to the project. I love working with kids, since they know exactly what to do with Lego. They start building. It takes very little direction to get a large portrait completed when you’re working with great imaginations! By the end of the day, more than 400 kids came through, and we had a completed mosaic.

Once our wedding was complete in February, I got right back to work on the final preparations for the big event. I had to come up at the last minute with a creative way to temporarily suspend a flimsy Lego mosaic 15 feet in the air on a stage truss. Within a few hours. I figured it out, and was quite pleased with the engineering!

The party went off without a hitch! The cougar sold at auction for more than $5,000 and the Collegiate School mosaic, built by the kids, sold for $22,100. Both, as anticipated, were donated back to the school for permanent display.

Later in the Spring, I was asked to set up the mosaics in the school. The cougar now hangs in the cafeteria of the lower school, and the Collegiate School mosaic in their library. Here’s a video of me moving the mosaic from one wall to another, later in the summer. The hottest day of the summer. With no air conditioning.

The design, a 6 foot by 3 foot tiled pattern with a dragon in the center, was prepared before I got out to Ohio, and as soon as I arrived in Bellaire, I went right to work.
Dan showed me the LEGO castle, essentially a 2-million piece yellow wall perimeter of a classroom-turned-gallery room in the museum. The only requirement to break the existing record was that the wall be interconnected, so Dan had the staff build a walkway wall going over the wall. That way, the public could walk over the wall and see the whole room from the inside.
My LEGO mosaic design was completed by the end of the weekend, and it’ll lead the way to a LEGO model of a King’s throne.

The LEGO store was nuts! BrickFair had a special discount on LEGO products, so the crowd in the mall was pretty wild. I got the skinny on the discounts (since I had already missed most of Friday’s events) and then went over to the Sheraton to set up my Lego mosaics.
After I set all my LEGO art on the table, I went to Woodbridge. The LEGO store there was having a heck of a sale, where some sets were as much as 50% off, and I knew there would be a big line. I got some dinner and stood in line. Good thing too, because when they opened their door at 9pm the line went all the way down the hallway.

I made out with a bunch of white plates, perfect for my LEGO mosaics. I waited an hour in line to pay for it, and then came home. A successful evening!
The next day, oh man… the next day…
We had about 4,500 people come by on Saturday. I must have spoken to about 2/3rds of them. I gave out 1,000 business cards and everyone took pictures of the mosaics I had on display. (see below)
Sunday was much of the same, just showing my mosaics and answering questions. They all seem to be the same questions, but that’s okay.
I must have spoken to 8,000 people, and I was so glad to see so much creativity in one room. The AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who were there brought some amazing creations. We call them MOCs in the LEGO realm, which stands for “My Own Creation” – Anyhow, there was some amazing stuff at Brickfair.
The video below is 2.5 hours of people coming by my mosaics. Check out the madness!

What a great weekend. The Wall-E mosaic design won “Best Mosaic” trophy. Everyone seemed to like how the yellow transparents were shaded because of the gray LEGO plates underneath.

Comfort Zone provides a free camp for children with a death in the family to do camp activities and share these fun experiences together in a safe way. Through their shared experiences and “healing circles,” the kids learn that they are not alone in their feelings of grief.
The first Lego mosaic we built was Comfort Zone’s logo. This 5’ x 2.5’ logo contains the official colors and signage of the camp. Kids also signed white Lego tiles, which were added to the mosaic to autograph the final piece.
The second Lego mosaic we built was an image of children holding hands. This dramatic Lego mosaic will sell at Comfort Zone’s Grief Relief Gala, their annual fundraiser and live auction.
I always love working with Comfort Zone Camp. Bringing Brickworkz Lego mosaics to the kids and combining those two passions of mine was a real treat for me.

Founder Mindy Matherly started the fundraiser because her friend from summer camp returned one year in a wheelchair. His symptoms of Muscular Dystrohpy were more pronounced, and she became inquisitive about the disease and wanted to help.
The Build-off started for the Danville community to bring Lego creations and present them for judging. As people visted each creation, they would put money into the jar next to a piece they liked. The kid with the most money in the jar won the category.

The Art department of Richmond Magazine wanted to illustrate the kids section of their Summer edition.
To do this, I designed a simple Lego mosaic that could be extended out (digitally) to get the desired effect. Olivia and Molly helped me build the piece. The next morning, a photographer for the Magazine came out to shoot the Lego art. A few weeks later, it was in the magazine!
They digitally extended the Lego mosaic and added some new colors, but it’s all there! We were happy to be a part of the month’s edition.
All in all, a fun project. Quick and fun. Molly and Olivia took the mosaic all apart when the photoshoot was complete, and got the colors resorted so I could use them for kids projects on future Brickworkz events.
If you are interested in a Lego mosaic for your publication, contact me!

I was delighted to join librarian Kelly Hurd in congratulating the top readers of Highland Springs Elementary School. She invited me to bring some Lego mosaics and show the kids what we do at Brickworkz.
I took the students through a tour of Lego mosaics that we completed and discussed creativity in the workplace. It is so important that these children stay imaginative in their lives. Nothing is sadder than to see people feel trapped in a job they don’t like because they feel they have nowhere else to go.
The kids celebrated their reading achievement with pizza and ice cream, and then we gave them a chance to create their own Lego mosaics with the parts I brought in. We had some really creative kids build some neat designs.

It was a great experience to spend that time with the students and share creative ideas with them. All in all it was a great time. Kelly Hurd made this flyer for me to document the visit. Thanks, Kelly!!