Eight-eyed. Scaled. Exoskeletal. Winged. Creepy-crawly. These probably aren’t words you’d expect to describe beautiful, high-brow art. A group of 17 bug-loving artists are on a mission to change that. The Entographic Collective’s new exhibition, Entographica, will be fluttering into Bath later this month, aiming to change the public’s perception of insects. India Farnham catches up with Peter Smithers, a local entomologist and member of the collective, to find out why insects might be more important, and certainly more beautiful, than many of us might have ever imagined…
Image above: Sarah Gillespie, A Lament for the Bordered Gothic, 2022, Mezzotint , Printed bleed edged on Arches Moulin du Gué. 49.5 x 74 cm
Some people go through life never really finding their crew. You know, the people that really get them, who appreciate them for all their wonderful interests, no matter how weird or wacky.
This, as I discovered through chatting with Peter Smithers, a local entomologist who has spent his life studying, painting and appreciating insects, is something of a tragedy. Because it’s through connecting with one another, and sharing our passions, that we can truly know ourselves.
“Insects have driven so many things in my life,” Peter tells me. “They’ve allowed me to meet a whole host of fascinating, wonderful people, and enabled me to go out and explore places that I would never have dreamt of visiting.”
What’s all the buzz about?
Peter’s fascination with anything with more than five legs began when he arrived at The University of Plymouth to work as an entomologist and ecologist in the early 1970s; “I realised that insects were rather more interesting than I thought, and I just got really caught up in them. And then I began to take a keen interest in how science could influence the arts and vice versa.”
And so, alongside Peter’s extensive work at the university, and his various positions at The Royal Entomological Society, he began collaborating with local artists, aiming to bring the magic of the invertebrate world to a wider audience. Peter’s pursuit for minibeast-centred art was incredibly fruitful, resulting in multiple art exhibitions, a puppet-play about garden insects that ran in the south west for over 20 years “until the puppets literally fell apart”, a piece of music inspired by the songs of crickets, grasshoppers and frogs, and a contemporary dance based on insect behaviours. Oh, and a full-length opera entitled MIRIAM about the famous natural scientist Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild, “the queen of fleas”.
Phew! Now, that’s quite the artistic output already, but Peter still wasn’t finished. After retiring in 2013, he began to spend more time painting at his home in Bristol, inspired by the strange and exotic shapes he had marvelled at in the microscopic world. His muse? Spiders, of course. Deadly or furry, venomous or harmless, it was spiders that had really enchanted Peter throughout his career; “They have these amazing techniques and tactics, and their bodies are utterly amazing. That’s what I find fascinating about them. They are gorgeous!”
And it was looking at spiders on a microscopic level, exploring what lies just below the threshold of human perception, where Peter found the inspiration for his latest painting series: spider genitalia.
“I realised that [spider genitalia] aren’t just a means of identifying species. They are incredibly beautiful, complex structures – metaphors for the natural world. In my paintings, I’ve made the structures much bigger, and then presented them in vibrant colours.”
Now, I don’t know about you but I’ve never really thought about spider genitalia before, let alone what they look like up close in dazzling multicolour. It’s a striking concept. I ask Peter what the reaction to these paintings has been so far? “Well, they haven’t been widely seen yet. But my family have seen them and they’ve been very polite!” he jokes.
Insects, re-imagined
If you fancy seeing some of these super-surreal paintings yourself, you’re in luck. A selection of talented, insect-mad artists called The Entographic Collective (quite the groupchat name), will be gliding into Bath later this month with their new exhibition Entographica. Featuring work from 17 members, from Peter’s spider paintings to phantom etched moths to larger-than-life glass-blown beetles, the exhibition will run until the end of February in the fitting home of the Bath Royal Scientific and Literary Institution in Queen Square.
Pewter, 24ct gold leaf and concrete. 26 x 23 x 17 (H) cm
As we know, this isn’t the first time Peter has connected with fellow creatives; he’s been doing this for decades. So, I’m keen to know what the idea behind this specific project is?
“Well, it’s all about changing the public’s perception of insects,” Peter explains. “There are over 1 million recorded species of insects, so they are the major component of life on Earth. It doesn’t look that way sometimes, but they play all sorts of minute and very complicated roles to keep the natural world going. And yet, they’re in decline.
“The thing is, you can only conserve what you love, and you can only love what you understand. So understanding is key, and curiosity is the gateway to understanding.
“So, one of the main thrusts of this exhibition is to present insects in a new light as creatures of beauty and as creatures who are incredibly useful. With Entographica we’re saying to the public: ‘come along, soak up these images and then go away and reflect on how you might treat these fantastic creatures differently.’”
A noble pursuit. I wonder, as the main organiser of the exhibition, how did Peter reach out to the participating artists to get them involved?
“Well, it’s a fabulous team. We met at an exhibition in Salisbury about three years ago. Every year since then I have organised for us to get together at The Natural History Museum. It was at one of these meetings that the idea for Entographica was born.”
Peter lights up as he tells me what sort of artwork we can look forward to seeing at the exhibition.
“There’s one artist, KT, who has blown a metre-long, incrediby rare species of beetle out of glass. There’s another artist who has made ants out of pewter, and another who has created paintings based on the way light bounces off of scales. There’s another artist, John, who paints out in nature, you know, physically following butterflies around a field. So, we have many different approaches, but it’s the fascination with insects that unites us all,” Peter enthuses.
A social butterfly
Undoubtedly the work Peter has done over the last 50 years will have inspired countless people to think about insects differently, but he is not in the dark about the fact many people will still be scared of spiders. Why does he think this is?
“That is the million-dollar question,” Peter muses. “Why? I’m afraid I don’t know. I have seen children who are utterly fearless around spiders, but with just a subtle hint that mummy and daddy are scared, they pick up the vibe, and they become terrified. I think familiarity is the only thing that will help.”
In a world of smartphones and video games, Peter is encouraging his grandchildren to be excited about the natural world.
“Whenever we go out in summer, I always make sure I take some insect collecting things with me, so my grandchildren can run around in the long grass and just see what they can find.”
Well, if you’re not ready to run about in the long grass yet, take a civilised stroll through the Bath Royal Scientific and Literary Institution at the Entographica exhibition instead. Challenge yourself to think differently, to look closer. It might just be the key to a better world.
Entographica will be at the Bath Royal Scientific and Literary Institution from 29 January – 25 February.
Learn about the artists in the collective and find out more at entographica.co.uk
If you’re interested in insects, Peter recommends reading Anne Sverdrup Thygeson’s book Extraordinary Insects, or his book Small Game Hunter. If you want to get involved in the insect community, then Peter suggests joining your local natural history group.