School uses Lego art to celebrate Blue Ribbon award
Stacy Cline, her husband, Justin, and their two boys were making their annual family outing to the Dayton Art Institute’s Oktoberfest when they came across the Brixilated tent. Brixilated specializes in custom products and experiences with Lego and had partnered with DAI to create a Lego mosaic of the Dayton Art Institute building that was, quite literally, being built by people in attendance at Oktoberfest.
“My boys love Lego, so we each built a section of the mosaic, and then, of course, they wanted to build more. We were in the tent for over 45 minutes, building Lego sections for the mosaic,” Cline said.
As her boys were building the mosaic squares with the Lego, Cline turned to Justin and said, “How cool would it be to get staff, students and the community to build Lego squares for a ‘Blue Ribbon’ mosaic!?”
Cline, the art teacher at Orchard Park Elementary School, meant commemorating the school’s 2021 National Blue Ribbon Schools award as an exemplary high-performing school — by creating a Lego mosaic of the Blue Ribbon Schools logo.
Cline took her idea to her principal, Micki Ambrose, and working together with Brixilated, created a project that involved the entire school community in creating the mosaic. The Lego kits, nearly 500 of them, were built by Orchard Park students, staff and families at the school’s Family Fun Fest and by community members who attended the district’s annual N2Art Show.
Each Lego square that was built was then placed on a board to create the finished product — a 4-foot-by6-foot Lego mosaic of the 2021 National Blue Ribbon Schools logo that is scheduled to be hung in Orchard Park’s gymnasium next week to commemorate for years to come its national recognition as an exemplary school.
“I just love that everyone was a part of creating this piece of art, because it really is a celebration of the entire school community’s part in helping to make Orchard Park a Blue Ribbon School,” Cline said.