The thing about “The Art of the Brick”—the traveling exhibition of more than 100 sculptures made from millions of Lego bricks by Nathan Sawaya that opens at Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace today and runs through Jan. 11—is how much it inspires us to make stuff, not just politely observe.

“The toy is accessible,” says the 41-year-old artist, who splits his time between New York and Los Angeles. His Lego exhibitions have drawn crowds in New York, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe and Australia. “We walk through this room and these are all [Lego reproductions of] marble statues. People may appreciate it, but it’s very doubtful that they go home and have a marble slab.”

But we have Legos. Kids look at Sawaya’s art—blocky Lego reproductions of famous masterpieces like Michelangelo’s “David” or Sawaya’s own designs for a 20-foot-long T-Rex skeleton or life-sized people who pull off their faces like masks—and they go home inspired to get right to building.

“You can create anything you can imagine,” Sawaya says.

Greg Cook is co-founder of WBUR’s ARTery. Be his friend on Twitter @AestheticResear and the Facebook.

Nathan Sawaya (Greg Cook)

Nathan Sawaya's "The Art of the Brick." (Greg Cook)

Sawaya's iconic sculpture "Yellow." (Greg Cook)

A room full of Sawaya's copies of famous artworks, including at center Gustav Klimt's 1909 painting "The Kiss." (Greg Cook)

A room full of Sawaya's original work, including the blue "Sing." (Greg Cook)

Sawaya's person-sized copies of the "Venus de Milo," "Augustus of Prima Porta," and Michelangelo's "David." (Greg Cook)

A history of sculpture recreated by Sawaya. (Greg Cook)

Sawaya's copy of Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream." (Greg Cook)

Sawaya's Lego "painting" of the "Mona Lisa." (Greg Cook)

A close up of Sawaya's copy of Vincent Van Gogh's 1889 painting "The Starry Night" shows how Sawaya uses Legos to build up texture. (Greg Cook)

Sawaya's original sculptures: (from left) "Swimmer," "Rain" and "Hands." (Greg Cook)