The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Brandon Nissen of Brick Cent$ has been busy recently. On September 8, he opened his online store; late last month, he was invited to serve as a judge for the Montana History Portal; and on Thursday, November 2, he completed his latest build, Olaf the snowman from the film Frozen.

Although not his own creation, Nissen acquired the idea for building Olaf from an online forum called Rebrickable, where a designer called PetProject posts designs.

Comprised of 4,587 parts, Olaf is approximately 25 inches tall, 40x40 Lego studs wide-not counting arms and hair, and consists of 68 layers. Joining the Santa Claus sculpture, which was one of the featured exhibits at Brick Cent$ last year, Olaf will be on display at 236 Indiana Street in Chinook for the Parade of Lights later this month.

"I haven't put them next to each other, but I suspect he (Olaf) is approximately ten layers taller than Santa," Nissen said on Saturday, November 4. Nissen further reported that after this Christmas, Santa is going to get torn apart and receive a makeover in time for 2024.

Nissen was also recently contacted by Jennifer Birnel, Director of the Montana History Portal, to bring his LEGO diorama of the Chinook Pool and Park for display during their LEGO competition in Helena on December 9. That original design features a scaled re-creation of the Chinook City Pool and Park constructed entirely from LEGO blocks. Judged on Creativity, Originality, Overall Appearance, Technical Difficulty, Workmanship, Structural Soundness, and Mechanical Ability, Nissen's diorama won a blue ribbon in the adult division of the Hobby Department at the Montana State Fair in Great Falls, which was held from July 28 through August 5 this past summer.

Birnel additionally invited Nissen to serve as a judge for the Montana History Portal LEGO Challenge. About that invitation, Nissen reported, "It's a pretty surreal opportunity."

In her role as Director of the Montana History Portal, Birnel oversees a program of the Montana State Library that encourages cultural institutions to digitize historic and contemporary resources reflecting Montana's rich cultural heritage and to make them freely available for lifelong learning. Many Montana libraries, museums, archives, and cultural institutions add materials to this collection.

Birnel explained that the Montana History Portal is the new name for what was formerly known as the Montana Memory Project. "We made the name change last February to better reflect what we do. We are a website about Montana's history and culture and we provide a portal for all Montana institutions to share their content," she stated.

The Portal is described further on their website as "an online source for digital collections relating to Montana's cultural heritage. In part, these collections document the Montana experience. Access is free and open through the Internet. Many of these items are digitized copies of historic material; some items are contemporary. All serve as a resource for education, business, pleasure, and lifelong learning."

In partnership with Lewis & Clark Public Library, the Montana State Library is presenting the Montana History LEGO Challenge. The hope is to add additional materials to the collection that are created by Montanans.

"Our goal is to offer a LEGO challenge that will capture the attention and imagination of children and adults in a manner that will inspire interest in and education about Montana History, while using science, technology, engineering, art, and math skills (STEAM). We are calling LEGO builders of all ages to use Montana History Portal images as their inspiration for a cool LEGO build," their website states.

The Montana History Portal is hosting two juried events: a build-at-home contest and a build-on-site contest. Participants may not register for both of the contests; instead, they are required to choose. The contest and judging will take place at Lewis & Clark Public Library in Helena on December 9. Anyone interested in the contest is encouraged to visit http://www.mtmemory.org/pages/contests for a full description of the contest process and rules.

In short, contest participants must use a scene from Montana History to inform their LEGO builds. Sample images are available online at the aforementioned web address, but builds can also be of the contestant's original creation and design. Regardless, contest participants are encouraged to print the inspiration photo (if they have one) and bring it with their submissions. Furthermore, contest participants will have their submissions photographed for the Montana History Portal website collection. Packaged LEGO kit submissions will not be judged.

Prizes will be awarded in four age groups: 5-8 years, 9-12 years, 13-18 years, and 19 years and up. Entries will be judged on Interpretation/Completeness, Creativity, and Visual Impact/Overall Quality.

Birnel concluded, "We are very excited about this new contest and hope it is successful."