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    Columbus Makes Art Presents: Brick Master Arthur Gugick of COSI’s LEGO Travel Adventure

    COSI’s LEGO® Travel Adventure is running through May 8, and featured in the exhibition are some amazing creations by Cleveland artist, high school math teacher and LEGO brick master Arthur Gugick. Gugick creates world landmarks and mosaics out of LEGO bricks, something he started doing at a young age, so we chatted with him about LEGO-building background.

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    Q: How did you get started with LEGO building?
    AG: I got my first LEGO set when I was seven. LEGO people have an expression they use called “the dark ages.” That is the time between when you stop playing LEGO as a kid and start playing LEGO again as an adult, usually when you have kids of your own and rediscover LEGO. But I never had a dark age, I’ve been building consistently since 1967.

    Now viewing at COSI as part of LEGO® Travel Adventure. Photo courtesy COSI.
    Now viewing at COSI as part of LEGO® Travel Adventure. Photo courtesy COSI.

    Q: What made you decide to start building landmarks and buildings?
    AG: I started building on a really large scale in 2004/2005. The first thing I built was a model of the home I was living in. That was pretty cool because it was not only accurate from the outside, but when you pulled off the roof, it was accurate down to the smallest detail. The second thing I built was a very large scale of the Taj Mahal. I brought it to my first LEGO convention in 2005. It was such a big hit that the Washington Post did a story on it.

    Q: Since you are a math teacher, do you incorporate your knowledge of LEGO building into the classroom? How does that help engage the students?
    AG: I’ve taught for about 25 years, half in middle school and half in high school. I don’t use it in high school but I did use it frequently in middle school. The bricks themselves are amazing math lessons. If you hook up four Technic beams, you can make a rectangle and by bending it you can make a parallelogram. You can also use LEGO to measure rotation. There is a lot of math in building the landmarks and mosaics.

    Q: How long does it take to build your landmarks?
    AG: Each landmark can take up to 100 hours of work to create from research to building. The mosaics can take up to 60 hours including research and development.

    Q: What advice can you give to anyone who wants to start building these intensely detailed sculptures?
    AG: Learn as much math as you can. To build the Coliseum, I needed to learn calculus. To create the Dome of the Rock, I needed to learn trigonometry.

    Gugick’s LEGO® creations can be seen now through May 8 at COSI as part of LEGO® Travel Adventure. Build your own mode of transportation using LEGO bricks and check out displays of LEGO models highlighting different destinations around the world. COSI is located at 333 W. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Find out more information by calling 614.228.2674 or visiting cosi.org.

    Columbus Makes Art Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus. The column is a project of the Art Makes Columbus campaign, telling the inspiring stories of the people and organizations who create Columbus art. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at how #artmakescbus.

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    Jaclyn Reynolds
    Jaclyn Reynolds
    Jaclyn Reynolds is the Director of Communications for COSI. She has worked in communications and PR for more than 17 years. She has worked as a TV news producer in cable news and as a public information officer and communications specialist in state government.
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