Wire person on a swing with string

View more photos in the "Get into the swing of..." album on the Spudart Facebook Page.

About the "Get into the swing of..." series

Little swings in public places. Swings are fun. We need more swings in places. These little swings have a figure enjoying the scene around him. It's a reminder to people to enjoy the view wherever you are. If a little wire guy on a swing is enjoying the scene, you can pause for a moment and enjoy it too.

I've been wanting to do figures on swings for quite some time, but I always pictured them being ceramic figures, but then a few weeks ago I saw some paper clip figures on flickr or deviantart (I wish I had the reference). Making them from wire makes it a little easier to implement this series. Sorry, Lill Street Art Center, I really do need to take a ceramics class though.

Originally I was envisioning placing them on the guardrails at CTA stations. But with the sun this weekend, these guys were asking to be put in the park a couple blocks from me.

A few discoveries with this series:

• Wire cutters make good twig clippers.
• It was nice to sit down and an actually make some art with my hands, and to spend a little bit of time on it.
• I prefer the swing to be in an area that is not completely obvious.
• It's fun to make the swings look like they are animated. The leg lift of the wire guy in this photo makes it look like he's having fun swinging around.

• I'm gonna place swings in various public places. CTA stations, street signs, pretty much anthing that's horizontal and can take a swing.
• If possible I'm gonna make the swing out of found objects in the area. The CTA station swings could be made out of discarded transit cards.
• The wire figure might get more elaborate. I'd really like for it to have a hat. Or to make a girl figure with pigtails.
• The figure might be made out of found objects too.