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Over the course of her career, Joan Danziger has combined her interest in the animal world with the beauty and mysticism of nature. Beetle Mania introduces a new riff on this theme as she explores beetles - with the playful fantasy and whimsy that has come to define her work.
Fascinated by both the cultural myths of the beetles, which date back to the ancient Egyptians, as well as their physical ability to materialize mysteriously from underground, Danziger infuses each one with magical purpose and meaning. Made out of Danziger’s technique, which consists of wire, celluclay and paint, the sculptures also incorporate a new material: fused glass.
This is exhibition is on display at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh in their Waterplay exhibit. Danziger's bugs complement the water exhibit by filling the white walls with accents of color and interest.
Artist:
Danziger earned a BFA in painting from Cornell University and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York and the American Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. She has exhibited throughout the United States including Washington, DC’s American University and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the New Jersey State Museum, the Jacksonville (FL) Museum of Art and Sciences, the California Museum of Science and Industry, and the New York State University Art Gallery, among others. Danziger has created site-specific public art commissions for the DC Commission on The Arts and Humanities, Grounds for Sculpture, and Frostburg State College.
The artist notes that her work uses “animal imagery as metaphorical or psychological subjects giving the sculptures a life of their own creating a magical world. Beetles, especially the scarab, have inspired creative myths in many cultures because of their ability to survive, and have been objects of fascination and awe. This site-specific installation of beetle sculptures combines my interest in mythology and meta-morphosis, incorporating many aspects of their complex life cycle while also exploring their phantasmagorical diversity of shapes, colors and sizes. They have been created
in many altered states of being, first formed in wire and then emerging from the ground covered in ash, then in iridescent colors of glass and paint.”
10 Children's Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
