Spark Plug Bugs

LIAM BALLANTYNE

ARTIST STATEMENT

The focus of my work, the “Spark Plug Bugs,” was to combine elements from man-made machinery and nature-given characteristics. By cutting wings out of sheet metal and welding them onto the spark plugs, I was able to achieve the desired bug or fly-like appearance. Because there is never just one fly or bug in any one place at a given time, I created many bugs and hung them with metal wire, keeping with the metal theme. 

Also keeping with the automotive theme of the spark plugs, I found a used hubcap from a car to use as the hanging point for the bugs. The bugs could then be free to swing and chime in the wind, with the metal wire allowing them to move melodically when they hit each other, but still holding the bugs in place enough to make the bugs look like they are flying when there is no wind.