Reading >> Explore the extraordinary world of sculptor Joan Danziger whose creations – creepy, crawly specimens with six legs and wings – take center stage in the new exhibition Beetle Mania: The Art of Joan Danziger, on view in the Reading Public Museum’s Meinig Family Gallery now through Sept. 3.
More than 50 six-legged creatures are included in the exhibition, which is locally sponsored by Ehrlich Pest Control.
Enter the world of Coleoptera, the largest and most diverse order of insects commonly known as beetles. Danziger’s colorful works cling to the walls throughout the gallery, and are paired with some of The Museum’s scientific collection of beetles, as well as some cultural artifacts from ancient Egypt and South America, decorated with the insects. The artist enlists metal wire, iridescent glass, celluclay, and paint to create her much-larger-than-life-sized sculpted beetles, some of which measure nearly five feet.
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.”
Danziger, of Washington, DC, 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 U.S. 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.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the artist will present a talk as part of RPM’s Senior Series on Friday, April 28 at 1:30 p.m.
The Reading Public Museum is supported in part by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, Pa. Admission per day is: $10 adults (18-64), $6 children/seniors/college students (w/ID) and free to Members and children three years old and under. The Museum is open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Web: www.readingpublicmuseum.org
