About John Hampson’s Bug Art
At first glance, John Hampson’s framed designs look like elaborate geometric mosaics. Then the material becomes clear. The patterns are built from actual insects.
Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury preserves nine of Hampson’s insect mosaics, commonly called Bug Art. Thousands of beetles, moth parts, wings, and other insect specimens were arranged across wooden surfaces to create highly ordered patterns. According to the museum, individual works contain anywhere from about 6,300 to more than 13,500 insects.
The contrast is what makes the pieces so effective. Materials that normally trigger thoughts of specimen drawers or things crawling across a window have been organized into decorative stars, borders, repeated forms, and intricate symmetrical designs. From several feet away, the individual bodies can disappear into the larger pattern.
One of the best-known examples is North Star, completed in 1887. Like the rest of the collection, it rewards an uncomfortable second look. The closer a visitor gets, the less the artwork resembles conventional decoration and the more obvious it becomes that every tiny piece once had legs.