Today's piece was inspired by Lisa Woods' "Insects at Home" diorama series, and commissioned by my UALR labmate Dr. Robin Verble as a gift for our advisor. Each ant represents a member of the Yanoviak insect ecology lab as we received our respective degrees from the University of Arkansas just over two months ago.
Ants were pinned straight out of ethanol to dry in their poses, though some legs had to be removed and reattached to achieve just the right stance. Mortarboards and diplomas are simply paper with embroidery thread. I actually wrote a short message on each diploma, but the whole thing's been sealed in a bell jar now. Species were chosen with regards to research focus or physical similarity.
The players (left to right) are as follows:
Petrus Moriera (MS) and Dr. Stephen Yanoviak (advisor) - Cephalotes atratus
Theodore Sumnicht (MS) - Eciton hamatum
Robin Verble (PhD) - Camponotus pennsylvanicus
The names link to auto-montage images of other specimens of each species from AntWeb so that you can better see the details of each one. As you may have realized, though I do pursue many artistic mediums, I am not much of a photographer. Luckily most 2D material is scanned, but pretty much everything else is taken with a phone-camera. I may remedy this someday, but for now the blurry basics will have to suffice.
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