Building with LEGOs is a pastime for all ages. But for two Milwaukeeans, their passion for creation led them to being finalists on the TV show LEGO Masters.
Siblings Paul Wellington and Nealita Nelson grew up playing with LEGOs together, and both have deep roots in Milwaukee. Both are proud MPS grads, and Paul attended UW-Milwaukee before going on to co-found MKE Black and write Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community, a book about Black architecture and culture. Not to be outdone, Nealita is a Milwaukee-based entrepreneur and will be teaching a LEGO-building class with Milwaukee Recreation starting in January.
Throughout season four of LEGO Masters, Paul and Nealita have incorporated aspects of Wisconsin and Milwaukee in their builds, whether it be through building a roller coaster, a boat, or Cirque du Soleil models.
"I’m all things Milwaukee. I just love the city and it definitely came across I think in our builds in several of the challenges in LEGO Masters," Wellington said.
A life inspired by Legos
Wellington studied architecture at UW-Milwaukee, and now holds a master's degree in the subject. He credits this interest in architecture partly to his experience growing up with LEGOs, and that from an early age he loved constructing buildings with LEGO bricks.
"I received my first LEGO set when I was around three or four years old for my birthday, and ever since then I have not put the bricks down," Wellington said. "Because of that love of LEGO, it led to me pursuing a degree in architecture at UWM."
Starting in 2010, Wellington combined his interests in LEGOs and architecture to create "Brickville," an over-4,000 square foot micro-scale fictional city made entirely of LEGOs.
"A lot of the buildings in there were inspired from actual buildings - some in Milwaukee, some in Chicago, some in London. All buildings that I've experienced in my travels," Wellington said.
Nelson remembers building LEGO creations with her brother since she was a baby, and said that she's learned a lot from her brother over the years. Starting in January, however, Nelson will be the one dispensing LEGO wisdom, as she will be teaching a LEGO building class through Milwaukee Recreation.
"I'm super excited to teach this LEGO class coming up in January," Nelson said. "It's something new and I'm excited to share what I learned from my brother, because I wouldn't be able to do LEGO if it wasn't for my brother."
Siblings bicker, even on TV
For about 15 years after Wellington left for college, the siblings did not spend a lot of extended time together. The opportunity to compete on LEGO Masters helped rekindle their relationship, but the stress of the competition brought out some long-lost sibling rivalry
"During the volcano episode we had a rough time bonding, we actually fought a lot which was not actually on camera," Wellington said.
Nelson remembered how during this episode, the show's hosts came by their table for an on-camera check-in on how their build was going. Nelson and Wellington told them to come back in a few hours because the two were not speaking with each other, due to disagreements about their build.
"They said 'can y'all say something?' and we looked at each other like 'no,'" Nelson remembered.
A Milwaukee-themed ending
The season finale of LEGO Masters aired on Thursday, Dec. 14, where Paul and Nealita took second place. For their final build, they created "Christmas eve on a cliff" - a Christmas-themed house complete with scenes from their childhood including sledding, snowball fights and kids trying to open presents before they're allowed.
Before the finale aired, Wellington and Nelson said they could not reveal the show's ending, but hinted that their final build would incorporate personal memories of growing up in Milwaukee.
"Our last build really represents us. There's ties to Milwaukee, ties to our family, literally represents us," Nelson said.
