Spokane man has Lego up on artists

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2006

SPOKANE – Some artists work in oils. Some on marble. Heath Carr works in Legos. Lots of them.

Carr, 37, received his first Lego set for Christmas in 1976.

Now he owns a massive collection insured for $75,000 in his Spokane home, all organized by color and size in 48 10-gallon tubs.

“They are a toy that I’ve been playing with for 30 years,” Carr said. “You create your own world; you create your own city.”

His world is filled with intricate sculptures and murals comprising thousands of plastic pieces that can take hours, sometimes months, to build with the help of a computer.

In his living room is a Lego mural of the “Lion King” program resting on an easel. On the walls of his rec room hang 32-inch-wide pieces of Lego art featuring the logos of the Spokane Chiefs hockey team, Spokane Indians baseball team and the Indians’ mascot, Otto.

Most of Carr’s collection is stored in the basement of his home. His latest project is a New York City landscape that spreads across three downstairs bedrooms and accommodates eight Lego trains. The project is 10 years in the making, and the completion date remains uncertain.

When building a mural, Carr scans the picture into his computer and turns it into a mosaic image. He then runs the image through a program that turns it into a cross-stitch pattern, revealing the colors in block form. Carr then looks at the image and, starting from the bottom and working up, pieces together a 32-inch-wide mural.

“I get teased all the time about the kid that will never grow up,” said Carr, who wears a necklace with a Lego man figure attached. “I’m a 37-year-old 12-year-old.”

One person who doesn’t give Carr any grief is his mother.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Carolyne Carr said, “to do something you like, and other people enjoy it.”