On display through Nov. 3, “Museum Menagerie” presents a selection of artworks from the Long Beach Museum of Arts’s permanent collection that remind us of our ongoing relationship to the animal kingdom.

The exhibit offers viewer a deeper look into the animal kingdom through the eyes of artists using different media, including photographs, paintings, and sculptures.

“Few museums can exhibit all of their holdings, and it is rewarding to be able to bring artworks out of storage that may not have been on view for a while and present them in a new context,” Sue Anne Robinson, director of collections and exhibitions, said in a recent interview with the Gazzettes.

The curation of “Menagerie” was inspired by a fellow exhibit at the museum called “Architecture for Dogs,” museum staff said. “Architecture for Dogs” was a big hit in the Long Beach community of dog owners owing to its interactive exhibit.

The museum continued the family friendly theme with “Tree” and “Museum Menagerie,” going beyond man’s best friend, and sharing the spotlight with lions, horses, sheep, chimps, rabbits, fish, birds, cats, dogs, and even a pig and a bear.

“The exhibit was successful in executing the theme,” Jessie Hill, a Long Beach City College student, said. “I was able to look inside the artist’s mind and share the passion they have for animals. It gave me a beautiful view of colorful fish and a handsome little chimp.”

“Ceres,” by Peter Zokosky, is an oil on panel painting that features the “handsome little chimp” in a serious pose with a white flower.

Zofosky’s love of apes stems from his childhood, when his family kept a pair of rhesus monkeys as pets. When he was a child he even took baths with them and this kinship continued into his adulthood.

Another notable piece is “Rabbit covered jar” by Elisabeth Higgins O’Conner, an abstract ceramic jar in the shape of a rabbit’s head.

“My favorite piece in this exhibit is this jar, it reminds me of my favorite childhood story, ‘Peter Rabbit,'” Adam Garcia, a Long Beach resident, said. “It is sort of something I would like to have in my kitchen to store cookies in, and then tell my children the story.”

Fittingly, O’Conner has said in the past that she seeks to explore the thematic use of animals in works like “Peter Rabbit.”

“My work is not necessarily about ‘animals’— but I use animal-like forms to investigate our deep historic connections to animals as a motif in literature and morality tales such as the collection of Aesop’s Fables,” Higgins said in a recent interview with In the Make.

“The animal forms are a vehicle for viewers, an entry point, a pathway, something familiar to reach for,” she added, “that hopefully allows them to engage more fully with the less apparent ideas at play.”