These are the red imported fire ants which are harmful to the environment and their nests are exterminated by the millions in the United States using poisons, gasoline and fire, boiling water, and very rarely molten aluminum. What you get when you pour molten aluminum into an ant hill? An amazing sculpture is made by pouring molten aluminum into a fire ant colony. The resulting cast is huge, weighing 17.9 lbs. and reaching a depth of 18 inches.
The back of the display.| Photo: AnthillArt.com
A picture of the cast from the left. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
A view from the right side of the cast. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
A view of the cast from above. From this angle you can see that there are many flat pad-like chambers near the bottom of the colony. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
This is a picture from directly above the display so that you can see the large flat chambers near the colony bottom. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
This is the bottom of the display. Because it’s mounted upside down from its natural orientation, this is actually the portion of the colony that is closest to the ground surface. You can see near the center where I poured the aluminum in the colony. The red, black, and blue dots are used to align the cast to the risers on the base. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
A close up picture of the base showing the support risers. | Photo: AnthillArt.com
This is a crazy feature on the right side of the cast. A series of chambers and tunnels basically detached from the main structure. Is this the guest house or something? | Photo: AnthillArt.com
