“Lego Exhibit at Brookfield Zoo to Close Shortly,” by S.M. O’Connor

There are only a few days left to see the exhibit Brick Safari at Brookfield Zoo in west suburban Brookfield, Illinois. The traveling exhibit of LEGO® animal sculptures Brick Safari opened on Saturday, May 11, 2019, as I wrote about in April, and will be open through Sunday, September 29, 2019. This was the North American debut of the traveling exhibit of over forty life-sized sculptures, comprised of 1,600,000 LEGO® bricks, which took almost 8,000 man-hours to build. [LEGO® is the trademark of Lego A/S (doing business as The LEGO® Group), which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse the exhibit.] The sculptures are displayed along a winding path on the east side of the zoological park. For the map, click here.

Some of the sculptures, including the lion, giraffe, snow leopard, and pangolin correspond with real animals at Brookfield Zoo. Others, such as the elephant and giant panda and its cubs, have no living counterparts at Brookfield Zoo at present.

The exhibit appeals to children, Adult Fans of LEGO® (A.F.O.L.), art lovers, and people interested in zoology. Exhibit visitors can take selfies in a Safari Jeep comprised of LEGO® bricks. The gift shop near the exhibit’s exit sells a variety of brick-themed products. Colorful exhibit labels next to each sculpture will feature facts and poems about the animals in question. Metro by T- – Mobile is sponsoring the exhibit.

Brick Safari is open during Zoo Hours. Admission to the exhibit will be $5 for adults and $3 for children (ages three-to-eleven) and senior citizens (ages sixty-five-and-over). Toddlers and infants two-and-under are free. Brookfield Zoo members get half off admission. General zoo admission is $21.95 for adults and $15.95 for children (ages three-to-eleven) and senior citizens (ages sixty-five-and-over).

“We wanted to bring STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, ART, and Math) to Brookfield Zoo in a fun way,” stated Andre Copeland, Interpretive Programs Manager for the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo. “Adults will be able to reflect when they were kids, how using STEAM skills allowed them to be creative, problem-solve, and exercise critical thinking skills. For the younger guests seeing the exhibit, they can use their imaginations and learn how anything is attainable if they put these skills to use.”

Figure 1 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption This Bengal tiger sculpture comprised of LEGO® bricks is standing at Roosevelt Fountain while the traveling exhibit Brick Safari remains open at Brookfield Zoo. It is comprised of 85,000 LEGO® bricks and took 392 man-hours to build.

Figure 2 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption: This elk sculpture is comprised of 87,464 LEGO® bricks and took 602 man-hours to build.

Figure 3 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption: This sculpture of a giant panda eating bamboo is one of three in the exhibit Brick Safari. Combined, they are comprised of a total of 40,000 LEGO® bricks and took 206 man-hours to build.

Figure 4 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption: This giraffe sculpture is comprised of 110,000 LEGO® bricks and took 375 man-hours to build.

Figure 5 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption: This is one of three lion sculptures in the exhibit Brick Safari. Combined, they are comprised of a total of 73,000 LEGO® bricks and took 549 man-hours to build.

Figure 6 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption: These two macaws are comprised of 2,000 LEGO® bricks and took forty-eight hours to build.

Figure 7 Credit: Cathy Bazzoni, Chicago Zoological Society Caption This orangutan is comprised of 30,500 LEGO® bricks and took 180 man-hours to build.

BRICK SAFARI STATISTICS

Sculpture	Number of LEGO® Bricks	Number of Man-hours
Aardvark	27,342 LEGO® bricks	155 hours
African Painted Dog	12,500 LEGO® bricks	113 hours
Alligator	64,256 LEGO® bricks	346 hours
Arctic Fox	3,250 LEGO® bricks	94 hours
Bengal Tiger (at Roosevelt Fountain)	85,000 LEGO® bricks	392 hours
Bluefin Tuna (2)	33,000 LEGO® bricks	78 hours
Chinese Salamander	11,500 LEGO® bricks	63 hours
Cobra	28,760 LEGO® bricks	95 hours
Dolphin	59,000 LEGO® bricks	84 hours
Duck-Billed Platypus	5,752 LEGO® bricks	29 hours
Elephant	271,739 LEGO® bricks	1,600 hours
Elk	87,464 LEGO® bricks	602 hours
Emperor Penguin (3)	6,900 LEGO® bricks	49 hours
Giant Pandas (3)	40,000 LEGO® bricks	206 hours
Giraffe	110,000 LEGO® bricks	375 hours
Gorilla	33,000 LEGO® bricks	167 hours
Brown Bear (2)	136,569 LEGO® bricks	382 hours
Leopard	42,500 LEGO® bricks	340 hours
Lions (3)	73,000 LEGO® bricks	549 hours
Macaws (2)	2,000 LEGO® bricks	48 hours
Mako Shark	80,000 LEGO® bricks	282 hours
Orangutan	30,500 LEGO® bricks	180 hours
Pangolin	1,500 LEGO® bricks	22 hours
Polar Bear	96,000 LEGO® bricks	312 hours
Red-Ruffed Lemur	7,000 LEGO® bricks	64 hours
Rhino	155,000 LEGO® bricks	403 hours
Ring-Tailed Lemur	5,000 LEGO® bricks	6 hours
Rockhopper Penguin	3,200 LEGO® bricks	101 hours
Sea Otters (3)	17,100 LEGO® bricks	238 hours
Siberian Tiger (4)	72,500 LEGO® bricks	398 hours
Snow Leopard	32,500 LEGO® bricks	101 hours
Tasmanian Devil	6,500 LEGO® bricks	50 hours
Yellowfin Tuna	13,000 LEGO® bricks	38 hours
Totals	1,653,332 LEGO® bricks	7,962 hours

The Chicago Zoological Society is a private, non-profit organization that operates Brookfield Zoo on land owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. The Brookfield Zoo met the American Humane Association’s rigorous standards for the care and welfare of animals to become the world’s first zoo to receive Humane Certified™ certification.

The Brookfield Zoo is open every day of the year. It is located between the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) and Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) and is also accessible via the TriState Tollway (I-294). The North Gate Main Entrance address is 8400 West 31^st Street, Brookfield, Illinois 60513. The South Gate Main Entrance address is 3300 Golf Road, Brookfield, Illinois 60513. A train station, the Hollywood (Zoo Stop) on Metra’s B.N.S.F. line, is a few blocks to the south of the South Gate entrance. The Website is www.czs.org/Brookfield-ZOO/Home.

$5.00 Per Month IN THE GARDEN CITY Subscription Plan

$50.00 Per Year IN THE GARDEN CITY Subscription Plan

The Field Museum of Natural History in March, 2018

The Field Museum of Natural History’s entrance pavilions are at opposite ends of Stanley Field Hall, which has a north-south axis. The two porticos (porches) are each reached by two successive flights of stairs.

Both porticos of The Field Museum of Natural History are flanked by two small porches, which each have two caryatids (columns in the shape of maidens). On the facade, the wings are adorned with a colonnade of attached fluted Ionic columns. The building’s fluted Ionic columns have volutes (spiral-scroll-shaped crowns).

Each portico of The Field Museum is tetrastyle in antis with double-ranked fluted Ionic columns capped by volutes. An entablature crowned by a pediment rests atop the columns. The continuous frieze in each case is relatively plain. The wave-themed acroteria that crown the pediments are borrowed from the Palace of a Fine Arts, which housed The Field Museum until 1920 and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Field Museum of Natural History isn’t “just” a museum. Visitors can watch scientists at work through windows at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center’s Pritzker Laboratory.

Mrs. Charles (Laura) Schweppe, a daughter and co-heiress of John Graves Shedd, the former partner of Marshall Field I who succeeded him as president of Marshall Field & Company, and who, under the guidance of Stanley Field founded the Shedd Aquarium, donated an exhibit of 100 bronze sculptures by Malvina Hoffman to The Field Museum. They represent every race, nation, and tribe in the human family (more or less). On January 9, 1933, the first group, Unity of Man, went on display.

In addition to the four figures Henry Hering (1874-1949) made for the corners of Stanley Field Hall, he also made the twelve plaster round lion head shield escutcheons that line it. These are replicas of the marble round lion head shield escutcheon he made for the pediment of the facade of The Field Museum of Natural History.

Christmas at Chicago’s Union Station

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a POLAR EXPRESS display in the Great Hall of Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the headlamp of THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Union Station Company rail car loaded with super-size gifts is part of THE POLAR EXPRESS mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Chicago has emblems of Amtrak, Metra, and historic railroad companies whose routes they now operate like Burlington.

Cinemas sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) Helped Design

This is the Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace and office building erected in downtown Park Ridge, Illinois in 1928.

The architects were Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey. Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on the Adler Planetarium, contributed to this building.

In recent years, the Vlahakis family, who’ve owned the building for 50 years, have been able to turn the building into a multiplex by adding smaller theaters around the original auditorium. The latest one, with a screen four times the size of the one in the auditorium, will open in time to screen INFINITY WARS in May, if all goes well.

The Catlow Movie Theater is a cinema that opened in downtown Barrington, Illinois in 1927. The Tudor Revival style of architecture is not confined to the facade of the cinema. As with the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois, sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) played a role in the design and decoration of The Catlow Movie Theater.