What sort of artwork do you think could be created with 400,000 LEGO® bricks?
You can find out at Nature Connects®: Art with LEGO® Bricks – a new outdoor exhibit at the Museum of Shenandoah Valley (MSV) in Winchester.
Open through September 3rd, this exhibit features works by New York-based artist Sean Kenney. It presents 13 larger-than-life displays made out of LEGO bricks, including a six-foot-tall 
hummingbird, a peacock built with 68,827 LEGO bricks, and a giant Galapagos tortoise with a finch riding on its back. You may also notice a giant corn spider, made with more than 16,000 LEGO bricks, hanging from a large sugar maple tree.
Nature Connects is the first outdoor exhibition to be presented at the MSV and gives visitors a chance to explore seven acres of picturesque gardens as they wonder at the sculptures. The exhibit truly proves, especially to wide-eyed children, that some things can be educational and fun. Each sculpture is accompanied by an interpretive panel that describes the habitats of the subject and connects them to the MSV gardens.
According to MSV Director of Exhibitions Cory Garman,”Nature Connects is a fun outdoor 
experience, and the exhibition is proving to be tremendously popular with visitors of all ages.” He notes that this is a great time for families to visit the MSV.
Visitors can even interact with the exhibition by building with thousands of LEGO bricks in a “Play and Let Stay” hands-on station. They also can take pictures in an anthill mosaic built with 12,990 LEGO bricks. In addition, families may bring picnics to enjoy on the MSV grounds, and they may purchase ice cream, light snacks, and souvenirs at a special Pop-up Shop in the gardens.
Admission to Nature Connects: Art with LEGO Bricks—which includes admission to the MSV galleries—is $10 for adults, $8 for youth ages 13–18 and seniors, and $5 for ages 5–12. Exhibition admission is free to ages 4 and under and to MSV Members. Note: Through September 3rd—save on the price of admission to this exhibit with Groupons.
The MSV’s venture into the outdoors doesn’t stop with Nature Connects. Planning and fundraising are well underway for “The Trails at the MSV,” a new projects that will open 90 acres of its 214-acre landscape as a free-admission park open year-round. It will include more than three miles of trails through fields, woods, and wetlands, accentuated with outdoor art. The project is estimated to cost $7.2 million, and just $850,000 must still be raised. (To contribute, visit this page. A grant from the Glass–Glen Burnie Foundation matches every dollar donated.)
Going back indoors, the MSV will, on September 1st, open “Maxfield Parrish: Paintings and Prints from the National Museum of American Illustration.” This exhibition will feature original artworks and vintage prints from all periods of Parrish’s career. In the 1920s, one out of every four American households displayed a Parrish print. The exhibit will run through January 6, 2019.
During the summer, the MSV also hosts the popular “Gardens at Night” program.
Relax in a beautiful setting and listen to great bands. The lineup: July 13, the Robert Eric Band; August 10, Soul Expressions; and September 14, Alter Eagles.