LEGO expert Sean Kenney speaks at Flyleaf Books

Sean Kenney never intended to create LEGO masterpieces for his life’s work — but he found the art of LEGOs far more interesting than investment banking.

Kenney visited Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill Tuesday to discuss and sign copies of his new book, “Cool Creations in 35 Pieces.”

Kenney’s presentation showcased the variety of artistic work he has done with LEGO pieces, including larger-than-life sculptures of hummingbirds, roses and buffalo — which are currently on tour across the U.S. in an exhibit called Nature Connects.

He is a LEGO-certified professional, but he said he is not employed by LEGO. He said he didn’t begin his LEGO career until 2005 — after working in the corporate world for 10 years.

Kenney said his transition to his artistic business was somewhat of an epiphany.

“I was sitting at Lehman Brothers in an associate vice president role wearing a $700 suit in a 40-story glass skyscraper on Park Avenue,” Kenney said. “And surprise! I wasn’t happy.”

He said he then quit his job and began building LEGO art full time — a decision he never regretted.

“I have the coolest job in the world,” he said. “It never gets old, it never gets tired, because every day it is something completely different. It’s Times Square one day, and the next day it’s a polar bear.”

Despite enjoying his job, Kenney said his work is not easy. His polar bear piece consisted of 95,000 pieces and took 1,100 hours to build. But the focus of Kenney’s new book is how much can be created from only 35 LEGO pieces.

“You can make anything, even if you don’t have a lot,” Kenney said.

Kenney spoke to a crowd of about 85 which consisted of mainly young children and their parents — but his appearance also drew adult Lego enthusiasts like Lane Jacobson, a junior at UNC and Flyleaf employee.

“I played with LEGOs as a kid, but only in the last two to three years have I really started to get into it,” said Jacobson, whose favorites of Kenney’s work were his polar bear and his model of Chicago’s Wrigley Field. “This event is really special in that it can draw in employees even on their time off.”

Jamie Fiocco, owner and general manager of Flyleaf Books, was pleased with the event.

“When I put in the request with his publisher, I was hoping for a Saturday afternoon, so for a Tuesday evening I was very pleased to get 85 (attendees),” Fiocco said. “I really appreciate artists and authors that support independent bookstores.”

Quinn Feldman, a 10-year-old Orange County resident, hopes to be a LEGO artist too — he brought his own small LEGO creation to the book signing.

“I like building robots that turn into other stuff,” Feldman said.

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