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My students and I have just finished a large LEGO project. It is an 8 by 6 foot
mosaic with a Las Vegas theme. I had the idea to create this after visiting the
Neon Museum during a field trip. This museum houses artifacts from Las Vegas’
gambling history, including a giant Neon Boneyard that houses many vintage,
mammoth neon signs. I was inspired to create a LEGO mosaic of the ubiquitous
‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign. I also wanted to create something for the
100th anniversary of Las Vegas in 2005. After designing it, I contacted the
Neon Museum. They were eager to display the mosaic when it was finished.
My own collection wasn’t enough. I started the task of acquiring the parts. I
mainly needed a bazillion black plates. I kept my eye on Bricklink, on the
lookout for big sales. A few wonderful people were nice enough to donate parts
or give me a discount for this project.
After I had everything, we started to build. From start to finish was three
weeks. My students built 99% of this project. The large mosaic in the middle
was my design, the rest were created by students. Using graph paper they
designed about 100 mosaics, of which I chose my favorites. The mosaic is not
flat. The images stand out from the black in two or three layers of plates.
This mosaic is instead going to be displayed at the Lied Discovery Children’s
Museum in their new exhibit which opens in July. They are making a large,
free-standing metal and plexiglass display case for it (keeps little fingers
from plucking pieces off).
The PBS show ‘Inside Education’ did a piece on me and the LEGO activities we do
in my class, especially the mosaic. If you live in the Las Vegas area, you can
catch the repeat on Sunday the 27th at 6 AM.
Pictures of the unveiling coming soon! :)
Pictures:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=74438
The building process:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=84804
The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum:
http://www.ldcm.org/
The Neon Museum:
http://www.neonmuseum.org
My students made some questions to go along with the mosaic. Can you answer
these? :) (or think of any other questions to ask?)
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=88255
Comments welcome!
Corey Sanders
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