Wayne Peltz
Plastic Brick Artist
I’ve always been an avid collector—everything from toys and video games to DVDs and sports cards. Most of those are things anyone can collect, which is probably why I decided to take on something a little different: playing with blocks. Literally.
As an Ohio native and former clubhouse attendant for the Cleveland Indians, I was inspired by Jamey Carroll, who used to sketch other players. That sparked an idea for me to try creating something unique—Lego mosaic portraits of baseball players. What started as an experiment quickly drew national attention, and I’ve since been recognized as an artist in this unusual but fascinating field.
Each portrait I create is built with thousands of individual Lego pieces. Up close, they look like scattered blocks, but from a distance, they come together to form a strikingly realistic image of the person I’m portraying.
I started with portraits of legends like Jim Thome and Bob Feller, and before long, I was commissioned to create pieces of Dontrelle Willis, Carl Pavano, C.C. Sabathia, Tim Wakefield, Nick Swisher, Justin Verlander, and many others.
Over time, I’ve expanded beyond baseball into hockey, football, and basketball and pop culture icons. I also do custom portraits of couples, children and pets and I am always looking for new ways to bring new genres to life, one brick at a time.
