Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeff Sanders. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jeff thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I was invited to the 2018 Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival and commissioned to build and install a huge original artwork. The journey unfolded from an email I received that I didn’t think was real, to securing a commission to build the largest piece of art I’d ever conceived of, to figuring out how to source 100,000 LEGO parts and then building an art piece that was bigger than any wall I had in my home, on so on, and so on. The end of a long story is that I had the experience of a lifetime in the UAE sharing this experience of the festival with dozens of artists from around the world. It changed how I viewed myself as an artist, and the trajectory of my artistic career.
Jeff, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into using LEGO bricks as an art medium while I rediscovered LEGO as an adult, sharing them with my own children. What started as a fascination, became a fixation, and then an obsession, exploring the magic of geometry through this ubiquitous construction toy. That journey has led me to become a photographer, videographer, content creator, YouTuber, but most importantly it allowed me to understand myself as an artistic being and what that means to me. I continue to explore this space and the opportunities that it provides me–which most recently is creating LEGO mega builds as live performance art.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I wish that supporting artists as a tiny, tiny fraction of the monthly budgets of established, middle income adults was the norm and not a rare exception. There are so many competing priorities in the world, and many are critically important, but we collectively pay a huge price for neglecting art in our society. It sounds pretentious to say, but I believe it’s genuinely try.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Creativity is everyone’s birthright, and it is something that can be cultivated or left to languish. I think that almost every is born deeply creative, but the world (friends, family, society) work hard (for reasons I don’t understand) to beat it out of you. It took me years to recognize the value of my own creativity, and to let myself express myself without fear of judgement. That is a lesson that I think everyone can learn and onboard, and I think that anyone would be better for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brickbending.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brickbending
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/brickbending
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/brickbending
- Other: https://patreon.com/brickbending
Image Credits
Jeff Sanders