LEGO Exhibition Comes to the Atlanta Botanical Garden Today

What has more than 375,000 LEGO bricks and features fanciful creatures such as a 6-foot-tall praying mantis and a swallowtail butterfly with a 5-foot wingspan? It's the fall sculpture exhibition at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Gainesville: Nature Connects: Art with LEGO Bricks.

The traveling exhibition, presented today, September 19 - January 3, features larger-than-life sculptures -- made entirely of LEGO bricks -- that were designed and built by Sean Kenney.

The New York artist has created LEGO artwork for major corporations such as Google and Mazda, and has been featured in The New York Times and on ABC's "Good Morning America". Gainesville's new woodland garden will provide the perfect backdrop for Nature Connects, which features 14 installations comprised of 27 individual sculptures -- all with a nature theme involving plants, animals, or people. The largest sculptures are designed with an internal structure of steel rods and plates to provide support for the pieces.

Visitors will delight in seeing a Duck and Ducklings next to the pond, the Praying Mantis (built with more than 42,000 LEGOs) peeking out from a drift of grasses in the Overlook Garden, and the larger- than-life Hummingbird with a Trumpet Flower (more than 31,500 bricks) off the Promenade.

Opening day for the exhibition, originally created by Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa, will include a family festival featuring music and games in the amphitheater, discovery stations, and LEGO-related activities. Throughout the fall, special LEGO crafts and activities will be offered, including a LEGO construction contest.

The mission of the Atlanta Botanical Garden is to develop and maintain plant collections for display, education, research, conservation and enjoyment. The Atlanta Botanical Garden, Gainesville is located at 1911 Sweetbay Drive, Gainesville, GA 30501 and open from April through October, Tuesday-Sunday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and from November through March, Tuesday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is $8 adults, $5 children 3-12, and free to children under 3 and Garden members. For information, visit www.atlantabg.org/visit/gainesville or phone 404-888-4760.