Late one night this spring, Durango resident Sam Bridgham was feeling a bit bored and somewhat rebellious. His mind was restless for lack of ideas and inspiration.
“I only feel tired and old when I don’t have a good idea,” he said.
Bridgham, 50, thought of ways to channel his energy. “I’m not going to knock over mailboxes or spray paint anything. I’m a grown man, for heaven’s sake,” he said.
Instead, Bridgham studied his 200 to 300 pounds of Legos until inspiration struck. When it did, he ventured into the night and “wrapped” a wooden post with Legos in front of Bread bakery in northeast Durango.
“I put it up there just to see if it would play, if people liked it or not, and they did,” Bridgham said. “No one took it down, so I just went and added more to it.”
Since then, Bridgham has installed at least 15 Lego sculptures on bridges, signposts and electrical boxes around town. He calls it Lego bombing, similar to a fad known as yarn bombing, in which knitters or crocheters “graffiti” public spaces, including trees, benches, sculptures and signposts, with colorful displays of artistry.
For the most part, his creations have remained intact. They are a magnet for kids who happen upon them, said Greg Sevick, an employee at Bread bakery.
“It’s kind of like street art,” he said. “People are pretty amused by it.”
Bridgham, who owns Alpine Education Associates, teaches Lego robotics to children at the Durango Community Recreation Center. Over the years, his students and their parents have donated hundreds of pounds of Legos, he said.
“In a sense, this wouldn’t be possible without that, because I couldn’t afford to pay for these Legos,” he said.
Bridgham didn’t have Legos as a kid. He grew up in a rural area without a lot of kids to play with. It led him to be creative with anything he could find. No one told him what was good or bad when it came to his ideas. As a result, he was free to come up with unique creations.
He has adopted a similar philosophy as a teacher. As a self-employed teacher, he doesn’t have to answer to a principal, state board of education or meet state standards. He follows a curriculum, but it varies depending on the kids.
He likes working with broad concepts like symmetry, or what it means to be parallel versus perpendicular, or how tension turns to torsion, which leads to propulsion. Legos, he said, are the medium for learning these concepts.
“We return to these broader ideas all within the context of doing something really physical with your fingertips in a delightful setting,” Bridgham said. “And the delight is key. The greatest frame of mind to learn anything is when you’re delighted. ... It means that you’re in this pure creative state where it’s all new, and you’re riding that edge of wonder and discovery at the same time, and it’s being supported by very real engineering concepts.”
He especially enjoys working with children who are difficult to reach, including those with autism. Some kids with autism have difficulty making eye contact. Building with Legos while learning engineering allows them to sidestep that hangup, he said.
“Our traditional education requires that you look up and pay attention and interact, and that’s exactly what these kids hate to do,” Bridgham said.
When he’s out Lego bombing, a lot of people are curious and want to stop and talk. Bridgham said he doesn’t mind, but it’s a distraction to completing projects. So he has recruited a student who helps build and acts as a spokesman for the project.
He recalled working with another boy who doesn’t speak or chooses not to speak. While working with Legos, the boy grabbed Bridgham’s hand and gave it two squeezes. “That to me was like getting the gold medal,” he said. “I reached him, and I didn’t force him to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with, and we made some progress.”
Bridgham has set a few rules for Lego bombing: He doesn’t use any adhesives, he doesn’t self-promote, his creations must be where people can see them without causing a distraction and he won’t augment anything that already has artistic value.
For example, downtown Durango has historic street lights with fluted columns that support old gas lamp-style fixtures. “Those to me are beautiful already,” Bridgham said. “I don’t really need to take something that has already been built with aesthetics in mind and make it better.”
People have suggested he “fix” the Arc of History, which at first he thought was a good idea, but after reflection, he decided it would take away from someone else’s art.
Instead, he looks for “invisible” pieces of urban infrastructure that serve a purpose but aren’t being used for anything else. For example, the thousands of 2-inch by 2-inch metal signposts all over town.
Bridgham wants people to think of his Lego creations as their own. He encourages people to touch them and play with them, but be respectful. “Just leave it as good as you found it,” he said.
And he hopes kids will trust in their initial instincts without being told what to build or where to put it.
“I want people to experience delight as often as possible,” he said. “It’s just a thing that’s good for your soul. It’s the antidote to all the bad news that we get treated to.
“The magic to it is that it’s not for anything else but your delight.”
shane@durangoherald.com
