UH’s Pixel Picasso

Behind Gregory Jonason’s desk in his Houston home sit rows of neatly stacked Tupperware boxes, each precisely labeled and crammed with small Ziploc bags filled with brightly colored Lego bricks. These aren’t his children’s toy storage bins, but rather a carefully assembled collection of modular blocks Jonason uses for his art.

Jonason has created a 6-foot-tall portrait of David Bowie out of Lego bricks as well as a pixelated portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. These stunning Lego creations are now sought after by collectors and have received extensive media coverage.

Jonason, who earned both his Master of Education and Doctor of Education at the University of Houston and is currently an enterprise systems application developer at the University, says his love of working with Lego dates back to his childhood. But it wasn’t until he had a son that he rediscovered the medium.

When he began looking for his own Lego sets to build, he found a community of adult Lego aficionados called AFOLs—or adult fans of Lego—who took Lego-making to the next level. They traded Lego bricks through the website BrickLink. Reconstructed classic sets completely out of stray parts. And built their own original creations. Jonason was hooked.

Jonason began sourcing Lego bricks by the pound, using software to design and engineer his creations, and drafting original directions so his own creations can be remade and replicated.

“I wasn’t buying sets,” he says. “I’m a little different in that I like to pay my mortgage and have a happy wife and family. Lego is actually pretty expensive. I buy people’s bulk collections off Facebook marketplace or Craigslist, meet up with them and get a huge tub of their childhood Lego or their kid’s Lego they’re cleaning out.”

This kind of creative, meticulous work perfectly suited Jonason’s multifaceted interest in art, engineering and computer science.

Jonason first arrived at the University in the early 2000s after starting his career working for startup companies during the dot-com boom. Throughout his 20-plus-year career with UH, he earned two graduate degrees while helping to shepherd the University’s IT and e-learning systems through two decades of rapid technological advancement. He currently assists with developing the software that will help run all the point-of-sale applications on campus.

While Jonason’s behind-the-scenes work has helped the University keep pace with monumental technological shifts, his Lego creations have helped him step into the spotlight. Some of Jonason’s pieces have sold at auction. Others have been commissioned for locations around the city.

He is currently at work on his largest piece to date: a replica of a well- known Houston mural by the graffiti artist Gonzo247. To execute the 16-by-3-foot Lego mosaic, he is collaborating with a few other AFOLs on the build. The toughest challenge, he says, is creating a design that can stay together despite its weight—and without using glue.

For any casual Lego fan, the scale and ambition of the piece is mind- boggling. But like the rest of us, Jonason will get there the only way one can: one brick at a time.

“It’s kind of meditative to do repetitive tasks that most people find boring,” Jonason says of his Lego love. “It calms my mind.”

Gregory Jonason received his Master of Education and Doctor of Education from the University of Houston. He has worked at the University for more than 25 years and is currently an enterprise systems application developer.