WonderLab’s newest special exhibition, Big-Headed Ants, opens today and will stay at the museum through March 27.
The exhibition features art by Stone Belt employees as well as a habitat full of ants, complete with magnifying video cameras that allow visitors to see inside the daily lives of one of the world’s smallest but most successful creatures, according to the WonderLab website.
The ant colony is inhabited by a queen, supermajor, major and minor worker ants, called castes. Each of these castes varies in size and each has a specific role in the colony, according to a press release from the museum.
The interactive exhibition allows visitors to make and record observations on how an ant searches for food, defends its colony and cares for its babies.
Other interactive components include exploring ants’ anatomical features that make them strong relative to their size, the social structure of an ant colony versus a honeybee hive and how they use chemical symbols to lead other ants to food.
The exhibition also includes woven big-headed ant models made by local weaver Martina Celerin that depict each of the four castes of ants living in the colony.
Visitors can also watch a live feeding demo of the ants at 1 p.m. Saturdays throughout the months of November and December.
Accompanying the exhibition will be a collection of art made by Stone Belt Client Artists, according to the museum website.
The displayed artwork will be available for sale from November through the beginning of February, and all proceeds from the sales will go to benefit Stone Belt Center.
Stone Belt is an Indiana organization aimed at supporting individuals with developmental disabilities and their families to fully participate in the community, according to the Stone Belt website.
When the exhibition ends in March, the ants will become part of a permanent installation in the gallery, according to the press release.
WonderLab is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the museum is $7.
Half-price admission for the First Friday event will be Friday. Members will get in free.
Celerin will describe the process of creating her artwork, and a meet-and-greet with the Stone Belt Client artists will last from 6 to 7 p.m.
A small plate meal prepared by Bloomingfoods will also be available for purchase at the WonderLab Café.
Holly Hays
