General News
16 November, 2023
Ants take over in Avoca
An infestation is taking over Avoca as hundreds of ants begin emerging from their nests and instead of calling the exterminator, the community is welcoming the two-dimensional critters. Spotted across the town, the six-legged insects have been seen...
An infestation is taking over Avoca as hundreds of ants begin emerging from their nests and instead of calling the exterminator, the community is welcoming the two-dimensional critters.
Spotted across the town, the six-legged insects have been seen on storefronts in the main street, around the art gallery and even on the visitor information centre — with the queen ant’s colony located at the Avoca Primary School.
The source of the infestation, the school has let the tiny creatures loose as part of its latest art installation, Find an Ant, that features photocopies of the insect created by students, pasted around the town.
Every student from Prep to Year six has participated in the project, making their own one-of-a-kind ant and each of these artworks will be put up on the walls in High Street using a temporary glue made from wheat paste.
According to Avoca Primary School art teacher Suzanne Blackie, the initiative allowed the students to express themselves in unique ways.
“This art project follows one of the areas that we’re studying at the moment — printmaking and media work,” she said.
“We wanted to put something together that really involved everyone and so we thought the best way to do that is to create this ant colony, because there’s so many ants in a nest and every kid could make one.
“Their imagination ran wild and now we have super ants, some are wearing capes, or eating cakes so there’s a whole different range of ants with varying personalities.”
Ms Blackie said beyond the creative benefits of this project, there were also some community-focused ones for the town and the students.
“Now that these ants created by the children are out there, I think it makes them feel like a part of the community and that’s really important,” she said.
“This is a community based school and we try to encourage that interaction between the towns-people and the students.
“It’ll also give them a sense of pride in their work and that’s a wonderful thing in itself.”
The community’s reaction to the project has also been encouraging — with the school making sure all of the town can participate in Find an Ant.
“We’ve received amazing support from everyone,” Ms Blackie said.
“There’s going to be more than 200 ants around town but in the midst of that we’ve put in some golden ants — it’s a bit like a treasure hunt where people and students need to find these golden ants and write down what they find in their mouths.
“It’s just a bit of fun, to engage everyone, and there will also be some maps at the information centre in a couple of weeks time to help people.”
The installation is estimated to become more visible in the coming weeks — with the ants expected to stay till early next year.
For more information about the project contact Suzanne Blackie on 5465-3176.
