“Ant Farm: At the Nexus of Art and Science” is a multi-media collaborative exhibit merging art and science inspired by leafcutter ants. Four artists, Colleen Kinsella, Rebecca Goodale, Dorothy Schwartz, and Vivien Russe, have long been close friends and several years ago dreamed up an idea of a project where they truly work collaboratively – like a small ant colony – to create a singular but multi-faceted project.

This visual representation of leafcutter ants highlights their social structure and life cycle, including nuptial flights, egg laying, food gathering, and fungus cultivating. The exhibit features printmaking, installations, drawing, collage, artists’ books, and music composed and recorded especially for the project.

The opening reception is from 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 11, and is free and open to the public. Artisan sweet and savory pastries will be provided by cafe Bread Shack. The exhibition is supported in part by an Artists in Communities grant from the Maine Arts Commission.

The project began in the summer of 2012 and is documented by the “Ant Girls,” as they call themselves, in an online blog at www.antgirlsmaine.blogspot.com/.

As one of the Ant Girls said, “We decided to take ants, specifically leafcutter ants, as our subject and parallel what they do so successfully: working collaboratively to create something more than what would be done by an individual.”

Visitors will see long vertical paper scrolls with ants trundling leaves suspended 15 feet high. In real life, the ants cut sections of leaves then carry them back to their subterranean nest, soldiering on in a path with thousands of ants. They deposit their cargo in special “fungus farm” chambers in the nest.

The leaves then grow a nutritious fungus which is consumed by the ants — essentially making them farmers. The four artists created an interpretation of a fungus farm — an elaborate, brightly painted, accordion-folded, sculptural piece over 20 feet long, designed to be walked through by art gallery visitors.

A “nuptial swarm” in the exhibition consists of suspended winged paper ants hovering in a 15-foot-long column 25 feet high. Nearby on the floor is a “wing pile” representing discarded over-sized wings from the ants. The artistic interpretation comes from ant biology: ants develop wings when a colony gets large as a way to efficiently regenerate another colony.

The winged male ants and virgin queens mate in the air, then discard their wings, which are consumed by the queen to provide her with protein to sustain her almost-constant egg-laying career in the nest.

Elliott Schwartz and Caleb Mulkerin composed and performed original music with Colleen Kinsella for the exhibition, which is recorded and plays during exhibition hours. In the exhibition essay by Yuichiro Suzuki, assistant professor of Biological Sciences at Wellesley College, he wrote, “From the sound of downpours to the mating calls of insects and frogs, the music of a rainforest is an inspiration not only to scientists but also to musicians. The Ant Girls have worked collaboratively with the added support of musicians to depict the natural beauty and hard work of leafcutter ants.”

The projects in “Ant Farm” are all collaborative. However, in a separate section of the art gallery, the four artists each have a selection of their own work.

The Atrium Art Gallery is at 51 Westminster St. The exhibition continues through June 6. Art gallery hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, April 12-May 3. For more information, visit www.usm.maine.edu/atriumgallery or call 207-753-6500.