University of New England - Innovation for a Healthier Planet

Ant Farm: at the Nexus of Art and Science: merging art and science through the visual exploration of leafcutter ants

Ant Farm: at the Nexus of Art and Science: merging art and science through the visual exploration of leafcutter ants

August 17, 2015 - December 18, 2015

Biddeford Campus Art Gallery

A Collaborative Exhibition by Dorothy Schwartz, Rebecca Goodale, Vivian Russe and Colleen Kinsella

A collaboration of four printmakers, known as the Ant Girls, created this exhibit in a eusocial way to imitate the social structure of leaf cutting ants. The Ant Girls are four Maine-based artists working collaboratively to merge art and science through the visual exploration of leafcutter ants. Leafcutter ants live in tropical areas, including the United States, and are notable for cutting and gathering leaves that they use as nutritional substrates on which they grow their own food — a fungus. The ant girls show this alongside mating and communication practices among leafcutters. The show includes examples of handmade books. Sculptures, prints, drawings, scrolls, books, installations, signage, paintings, puppetry and origami are all part of the exhibition.