You don’t often hear of dried red fire ants being used in a work of art, but that’s exactly what visitors will see beginning this Saturday, March 19, at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s opening reception for the International Exhibition on Animals in Art.

Hosted in collaboration with the LSU School of Art, the exhibition showcases pieces chosen from 381 submitted works by 203 artists in Canada, Israel and 38 U.S. states. Only one will be honored with a $1,000 Best of Show award, and one will grace the cover of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. And not all of them, by the way, feature dehydrated insects; two- and three-dimensional works in media ranging from oils to bronze and beyond all have their place in the competition.

“There’s quite a connection with our fellow fauna, be it spiritually, emotionally or physically,” says exhibition juror Jonathan Meyers. “While we use images of them for symbolic meaning, one must also understand that we are also their caretakers, no matter how strong they are.”

The free reception begins at 6 p.m. at the School of Veterinary Medicine, and the show will run through April 18—with artworks available to purchase—during regular SVM library hours. For more details, see the article from inRegister’s March issue.