Jefferson City. Mo. ? Suspended from a rope, the huge metal spiral swayed in the air. It looked like it could become part of an ultramodern sculpture, but a bug? No way, at least not to a casual observer.

Pam Copeland could picture it. She designed the bug that’s part dragonfly, part bumblebee and part praying mantis. Her bug will alight later this summer at a Jefferson City locale and appear at Art Inside the Park, an annual public art exhibit curated by Atelier CMS Inc.

“Visualizing it is just incredible,” Copeland said during a build-a-bug session in Linn State Technical College’s sheet metal shop. “I can see where the head will go and the wings. It’s really neat seeing it being made.”

Atelier CMS asked students across Missouri and members of civic organizations to draw one-of-a-kind bugs using parts from existing bugs. The nonprofit organization received more than 260 drawings. Thanks to the financial support of area businesses, seven drawings are metamorphosing into 3-D shapes.

One by one, they will appear in town during the weeks leading up to Art Inside the Park. They will form the focal point for the show this fall, just like the large-scale jacks did last year.

Several additional bugs will become part of the exhibit in other forms, perhaps on a T-shirt, said curator Carla Steck. Each of the chosen designers will receive a $50 savings bond.

Pam Copeland, the designer of a bug sculpture, holds up materials that will be used as the bug's eyes at Linn State Technical College in Linn, Mo.

Copeland designed her bug this spring during a Leadership Jefferson City course and volunteered to help build several of the bugs. She said she surprised herself with her ability to work with power tools.

Her daughter, Jill, is helping. She will be a fourth-grader and sometimes uses power tools at home with her father.

“I never thought I’d see you with a power tool in your hand,” Jill told her mother, a registered nurse.

For tool lovers, the build-a-bug sessions would be a dream come true.

A bead roller forms strengthening and decorative creases in metal. A plasma cutter creates shapes, such as the spiral that forms the body of Copeland’s bug, and tin snips enable the crew to cut the metal by hand as needed.

A bug sculpture is seen after it was unveiled outside Regions Bank in Jefferson City, Mo. Six more giant sculptures are being unveiled across the city leading up to Art Inside the Park beginning on Sept. 14 in Memorial Park.

Crew members consider several variables when building the bugs: location, materials, and method of displaying, among others.

“The process is really a good collaboration between artists and engineers and other creative people,” Steck said.

Atelier CMS commissioned Jefferson City artists Chris and Jenny Neff to build one of the bugs, but all of the others are taking shape at Linn State.

The first bug landed earlier this summer at Region’s Bank. It required the services of multiple craftsmen.

Harold G. Butzer Inc. in Jefferson City cut patterns in metal with a laser cutter. The wizards at Linn State and Hermann artist Joey Los molded the pieces into a 3-D shape, and Neon Warrior of Kansas City electrified it with lights that match the paint.

The bug glows at night, and the bank plans to get one of its trees trimmed to increase visibility.

“We welcome people to come by and see it,” banker Matt Tollerton said. “We’re just really excited to have it. We wanted to support a good cause, and we definitely think Art Inside the Park is a good cause.”