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The event was free and the number of visitors were not counted.  The consensus was that we had at least a few hundred visitors and there was steady stream of people at my tables all day.  It was mostly families and it was great to see so many kids pulling parents between items saying, ‘Wow, look at this!’

I only learned about TCBX about one week before the event from the Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day, and was very gracious that event organizer Stein Settergren was able to accommodate me with such short notice.  I met members from TwinLUG and the Greater Midwest LEGO Train Club on Saturday for the first time and everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

The event was in Bloomington, Minnesota, which was about a 3 hour drive for me.  After arriving and setting up my stuff, I took pictures of the other exhibits before the event opened to the public at 10am.

See Full Article for Pictures and More Details…

All pictures below link to larger versions.

I was particularly impressed with the collaborative project by TwinLUG titled Micropolis.  I had seen a portion of this on display a month or two ago at the Mall of America LEGO Store, but it has grown larger since then, with 5 or 6 members contributing sections to this modular city. The micro-scale display is made up of 16×16 stud panels connected by technic pegs, using the same technique as the back of my LEGO Cat Birdhouse.

You can find more pictures and information about Micropolis on this Flickr Page.

Another display I enjoyed was a wonderful scale home model constructed by Dave Savage. Well, actually it is two models, both of Dave’s childhood home in Iowa built from his memories and family photos.  He had a smaller 1 foot per stud version and a huge 2 studs per foot version on display. Both are designed to come apart in sections to expose the interior walls and other construction details.

The Micropolis display highlighted above included a micro-scale version of the Hall of Justice, but this wasn’t the only model of this building at TCBX.  Also on display was an awesome minifig-scale version built by Roy Cook.   Some of my favorite features of this model are the smooth stud-free look and the beautiful reflecting pool mosaic in front of the building.  The mosaic pool  is constructed of colored plates covered with clear plates which diffuse and blend the colors.  This technique creates very convincing water reflection.

Another large model on display was beautiful minifig-scale gray cathedral built by Brian Kasprzyk.  I was particularly impressed with the use of colored transparent bricks and plates as stained-glass windows. The cathedral also has gorgeous layered door and window archways and corner decorations.

You can find more pictures and information on Brian’s MOCPages.

Another item I wanted to highlight was the large lighthouse within The Greater Midwest LEGO Train Club layout. This model uses the same brick sculpting style I use in many of my models to achieve the round, tapered shape.  It also has a wonderful balcony around the top and a working, rotating light.

You can find more pictures of the train layout in this Brickshelf Galery.

In addition to his contributions to Micropolis, TwinLUG member Garth Danielson also brought a large collection of diorama scenes. These creative models span a wide variety of different types of scenes and many tell a story with their intricate details.

Garth has a website where he features many of his LEGO creations, including many recent entries on his dioramas and Micropolis contributions. Check out the LEGO Category on his website to see more pictures and information on his work.

Also on display was huge battleship on a massive LEGO stand and many smaller military vehicles built by Daniel Siskind.

You can find more pictures and information on Dave’s creations on his website, Brickmainia.

Max Braun, who is also a contributor to Micropolis project, brought along a unique model of a large cretaceous ship.  It was a very creative model that used the flexibility of large 2×1 brick walls (positioned flat) to create an protected inside cavity.  Kids were definitely drawn to this model.

You can find more pictures of Max’s work on his MOCPages page.

Another huge layout at TCBX was the colonial port town built by Brian Kasprzyk. This project included tons of houses and hundreds (maybe thousands?) of minifigs.  It was the kind of layout you could keep making laps around all day and still find new details each time. One of the details I really enjoyed was the boat being tossed by the water spout.

There was also a large DUPLO train on display by Judy and Bill Payne.  I never realized there were DUPLO sets available in so many varied themes. This was a very unique and impressive setup.

Overall TBCX was a great day and I’m really glad I made the trip. Since I didn’t stay over night it was a long day (5am-10pm), but well worth it. Happily, my dad joined me for the trip to help set up, tear down, and keep me company. Thanks Dad! My only disappointment is that I live too far away to attend TwinLUG meetings, but I look forward to attending next year, hopefully to display again.

As promised, here are some pictures from Brickworld 2008.

There were large scale train setups by several different LEGO Train Clubs. These layouts had so much detail packed into a small area that you could keep coming back to the same display and find interesting things you missed.

Full article includes more pictures…

The whole family, including our 2 year old, really liked these Scooby Doo sculptures.

These huge skyscraper sculptures near the center of the room were impossible to miss.

Note the reflection pool mosaic in front of this Taj Mahal sculpture – creative touch!

This was a fully working slot machine made entirely of LEGO. I have to admit, was skeptical that it was really all LEGO until I saw it inside.

The LEGO company brought along their own weather man (and a mouse).

As fond as I am of LEGO mosaics, I had to include a picture of this one.

It was hard to pick which was more impressive, the massive sky scrapers above, or these mini-scale versions, which actually had more detail than the larger sculptures. (But my wife and I both picked these)

It was hard to select which pictures to feature here, because the large amount of impressive creations on display. It took many hours to see all of them.

If you find LEGO creations like this interesting and can make a trip to Brickworld, the dates for next year have already been announced -  June 18-21, 2009. I am planning to be there, and have items on display, so I hope to meet you there!

Brickworld is this weekend in Wheeling, IL (a suburb of Chicago). I will be attending and will do a write up with pictures next week. [Updated 06/24/2008: Just posted Brickworld 2008 Review (with pictures)]

This will be the first national LEGO event I have ever visited. This year I will be visiting the public exhibition only, since I will have my whole family along. In the future, I may attend as a registered participant, which includes classes, building sessions, and many other activities.

Here is a picture of the build in progress.

I decided to have everyone work on the floor instead of at tables, since I knew the bricks would fall all over the floor anyway. I airbrushed the faces on the picture above because I didn’t ask for permission to post pictures.

See below for more pictures!

Here is a picture of the setup before the kids got started. I brought 30 pounds of bricks including some less common colors like green, orange, lime, and brown.

Finally, here are some of the completed picture frames. I didn’t take pictures of all of them because it took me a couple minutes per frame to put the plastic film, picture, and cardboard backing together (taping each in place).

As you can see from the pictures above, doing this activity two days before Father’s Day provided a theme for most of the kids. A few of the others frames done by younger kids were more abstract.

Overall the project was a success. Several of the parents told me how much they enjoyed the activity and the kids were all very proud of their creations.

The Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum is having Discovery Days workshops this June and I will lead a class to help kids create their own small mosaics. Each participant will have a chance to fill a 10 inch base plate with bricks and special elements to create a unique design all their own, that they will get to keep.  I will provide templates of letters in different sizes and many small pictures designs to use as a starting point for the creative process.

I will personally donate bricks for this class, but if anyone else can help out with bricks or base plates they will go to a wonderful cause.  If you are interested in donating, please email me and I will provide my mailing address.  I will post pictures of the event here, so you’ll have a chance to see what your donated bricks become. Any extra items I receive I will save for future opportunities similar to this one.  As an example, I will also be doing a creative building activity with the Cub Scouts at a nearby elementary school.

Also, you’ve probably noticed there are quite a few advertising links found on this website.  100% of money earned from these advertisements will be used to fund workshops and classes like the one above for children.  So if you can’t help out with a donation of bricks, you can still help by using one of these advertising links to make a purchase.  Thank you!

I had been on Nathan’s Website, so I was already familiar with his work.  However, the website images don’t begin to do justice to his amazing creations.  Seeing this collection of sculptures and mosaics in person is somthing any true LEGO fan should not pass up given the opportunity.  This exhibit is traveling to many locations throughout the country spending 2-3 months at each location.  It is only in Appleton for 2 more weeks, so if you live in Wisconsin, your window of opportunity is closing quickly.

Below is a picture I took of my favorite piece, titled Reflection.

I was very impressed with how Nathan captured the ever changing contour of the human forms.  His exhibit featured many human bodies and large hands.  Below are three human form sculptures titled simply Yellow, Red, and Blue.

Overall, his selection of subject matter is intuging an imaginative.  Nathan has captured emotion and feeling in his work.  My dad commented that his work was real art, which I completely agree.  I’ve been to LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, California and visited several other large LEGO displays (like the one in the Mall of America), but this work is in a league of its own.

One very large, unexpected item was a LEGO dinosaur skeloton.  I didn’t see any pictures of it on Nathan’s website, and it was easily the largest sculpture on display at almost 20 feet long!

As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommend visiting this exhibit if you have an opportunity to do so! It pushed the boundaries of what I thought was possible with LEGO bricks and has me excited to begin a new project again as soon as I can.