Creativity at the Zoo!

I was so excited when I saw that LEGO artist Sean Kenney's work was going to be at the Houston Zoo.

 Here is more information about the exhibition from his website:

​"Nature Connects is an award-winning, record-breaking exhibition now touring North America. Created with over 2 million LEGO pieces, this show features over 100 sculptures built with LEGO bricks by New York artist Sean Kenney. 

Nature Connects is foremost an educational platform and secondarily a means of artistic expression.

I hope that you can look at Nature Connects and appreciate both nature and the sculptures as something beautiful, and I also hope you're inspired to go home and create something wonderful yourself.

Just as LEGO pieces interconnect, everything in nature is interconnected in a delicate balance. Insects and plants have important relationships; different species of animals have special relationships with each other; animals have connections with their families just like we do.  

And of course, people have a connection with nature, whether you're trimming a bonsai tree or planting a garden, or anything else: you are a part of nature."

This exhibit was powerful and I definitely recommend going to see it, if you can, before it ends on September 4th.

The sheer size and number of bricks was impressive, as was the thought put into each creation and what was included. 

The power of his heart and intention, though, is what truly captured me.

His platform of speaking for those who can not speak and creatively inspiring us all to remember that we are nature and that how we treat the Earth and animals matters encouraged my soul.

The zoo was hard for my compassionate heart, seeing signs at almost every animal exhibit about dwindling population and the negative impacts of our over-consumption and disposable society on the animal habits and the environment. 

When I experience that sadness for the world, that is the time when I turn to creativity, for healing, and for help (I literally had to go do art after leaving the zoo to help wash away my tears). Seeing Sean's work, and that his focus was on education, helps me believe that we can use our creativity to innovate and find a way for all of us beings on planet Earth to respect each other and survive. 

I also recently came across this podcast episode entitled, "Why You Need to Get Creative!" and loved that two of the guests were about combining their sustainable living and climate activism work creatively with their jobs. Inspired and want that to be true of what I do as well. 

It's so easy to not know the impact we have in this day and age. We don't see where things come from when we buy them, and we don't see where they go when we throw them away. It may go against our culture of everything should be fast, fun, and easy when we choose to learn more and make more conscious choices, but I think it is the courageous and loving way for all. And I choose to believe that by invoking the powers of creativity, it can be a path full of color, laughter, song, play, dance, and meaning. 

One of the animals Sean built is already extinct, I really don't want that to be the case with the rest. 

This way to more photos :)