Biblical clothing exhibit at BYU uses Lego loom for accuracy
Jason Hills poses in clothing designed by BYU alum Daniel Smith based on Biblical descriptions of high priest clothing.
Jason Hills poses in clothing designed by BYU alum Daniel Smith based on biblical descriptions of high priest clothing.
BYU alum Daniel Smith has recreated biblical artifacts on display in the Joseph Smith Building at BYU.
BYU alum Daniel Smith has recreated biblical artifacts on display in the Joseph Smith Building at BYU. For a recreation of high priest clothing, Smith built a loom made of Legos.
In the Bible, high priest clothing is specified to be made “of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine-twined linen, with cunning work” (see Exodus 28:6). For one cunning BYU alum, that work may best be carried out via Lego.
Daniel Smith has employed the use of the construction toys to create a full-size recreation of ancient high priest clothing, which is currently on display — along with other biblical artifacts he has recreated — at Brigham Young University in the Joseph Smith Building.
”One of the desires that I have is to be able to help people better visualize the scriptures,” Smith said.
Over the past four years, he has made biblical recreations as well as over 100 educational videos, totaling half a million views on his YouTube channel.
Smith’s passion for biblical recreations came from his experiences as an undergraduate student visiting Nauvoo as well as Jerusalem, where he saw parts of his faith embodied in physical form.
”It just really made a big difference to actually see things and to physically be able to visualize it in a way that you just can’t without actually having an artifact sitting there,” Smith said.
As a Sunday School teacher, a position Smith has held for many years, he said, he brings his recreations to class in order to bring biblical texts to life.
The high priest clothing project took Smith two years to create, and he used the Exodus text and other Jewish traditional commentary, including the Talmud, to design the garment.
”It’s hard because some of the parts of the Bible about the high priest clothing are pretty specific, like the breastplate,” Smith said. “But for example the ephod, which is kind of the apron thing that hangs around, it doesn’t tell anything about it. It just says, ‘Have an ephod that’s made of the purple, blue, red, gold and white,’ and that’s about all it says.”
Despite the scant supply of fine details, Smith believes his recreation is highly accurate.
”Most likely there’s inaccuracies in (the clothing) just because of the fact that the Bible doesn’t perfectly describe it,” Smith said. “It’s not accurate 100 percent but it’s as close as probably you’ll get in the United States.”
The clothing, Smith says, uses cloth and stones to convey religious symbolism, and he did not want to rely on less accurate fabrics that are more readily available.
”There’s quite a few that are people that just kind of go to Jo-Ann and they buy some fabric that kind of looks like this or it’s got some colors in it, and they cut it out and maybe have some fake stones,” Smith said. “But very few that have actually gone to the extent of real stones and actually hand looming the fabric and things.”
Robert Freeman, associate dean of Religious Education at BYU, said the pieces’ accuracy is somewhat subjective, but the overall work is impressive.
“It’s not meant to be the one and only way of seeing or viewing or expressing the subject,” Freeman said, “but in a day when a lot of people have less zeal for such subjects, we were pretty excited that there was an individual who was trying to (make) that expression.
Having purchased a cheap loom on eBay, Smith initially combined various yarns to make test samples, which ended up having stripes.
”I didn’t like the feel of that,” Smith said, “and so the thought came to me, ‘Well, why don’t I make my own yarn?’ I mean, I was a Boy Scout.”
Inspired by looms made with erector sets he saw online, Smith decided upon a favorite childhood pastime to do the job.
”When I was a kid, my parents basically didn’t buy anything except Legos,” Smith said. “I didn’t have Nintendo or gaming systems or all of the other toys that were available.”
Freeman said he was intrigued both because it was a former student who had helmed the project and because of the “innovative way” Smith used motorized Lego bricks to create the item.
“I thought, my goodness, that’s something I would never have even thought of, let alone been able to do,” Freeman said.
Smith’s Lego device is also on display at BYU. Ultimately, Smith would like for his recreations to be part of an immersive biblical museum.
The exhibit will run most likely through March and into April, but no closing date has yet been determined, according to Freeman.
?”We’d like to think we’ll have it for a few months,” Freeman said. “?We’re glad to have the opportunity to share it with the public.”
SACRED REPLICAS EXHIBIT
What: Several biblical recreations on display, including high priest clothing.
Where: BYU Joseph Smith Building, main floor.
Info: redeemerofisrael.org