WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Over the past decade, Lego Artist Eric Cacioppo has seen the light.
“The dark age is the time when Lego isn’t cool anymore. And then later on you come back to it, and then you kind of come out of your dark ages,” said Cacioppo.
The middle school art teacher, husband and father of three, has taken his love of the timeless craft to a level not seen by many.
“This kind of hobby actually keeps me home a little more and it also lets the kids and me to interact together and we build together. And my daughter helped me build this big flying saucer that’s over here,” said Cacioppo.
Cacioppo is part of a Lego group called OhioLUG.
Each of the last 10 years, he and dozens of his colleagues have worked together on this display at the Columbus Museum of Art.
“We’ve grown a lot over the last couple years, adding a couple members almost every month. You know I work with middle school kids and when I talk to them about Lego their eyes go up like, ‘You’re a builder right?’ And I can say ‘Yeah, we’ve got work in the museum right now, go and see that,'” Cacioppo said. “And it’s that really pride to show them that I do have artwork out there an its something that you can strive to do too.”
This custom great ball contraption and conveyor belt is one of Cacioppo’s favorite creations.
Although he still has many future projects on the docket, Cacioppo will always strive to reach new heights in the hobby that’s fun for all ages.
“Me and another builder are putting together downtown Dublin, so my docket is to build the Jeni’s Ice Cream side. Most people don’t think about people sitting in your own neighborhood with a million Legos in their basement, building these tall buildings and cities,” Cacioppo said. “There’s more of us around than people realize.”
