Jennifer Angus (born 1961 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artist, professor, and author. She is known for her site-specific installations that use large numbers of insects arranged in ornamental patterns that she has been creating since 1999. Angus anthropomorphizes insects in the hope that she can change people's

entomophobia Entomophobia sometimes known as Insectophobia is a specific phobia characterized by an excessive or unrealistic fear of one or more classes of insect, and classified as a phobia by the DSM-5. More specific cases includes arachnophobia (fear of spi ...

and create an interest in the role that insects play in ecosystems. Angus is professor in the Design Studies department at the

University of Wisconsin, Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. Angus lives and works in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin b ...

. Angus is an alumna of the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

(BFA) and the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum an ...

(MFA). In 2005, the

Textile Museum of Canada The Textile Museum of Canada, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a museum dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and documentation of textiles. History The Textile Museum of Canada was founded as the Canadian Museum of Carpets and Textiles ...

showed 'A terrible beauty', a site-specific installation involving 15,000 insects organized in ornamental patterns similar to those found on wallpaper and textiles. The exhibition won the 2006 Exhibition Award from the

Ontario Association of Art Galleries The Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries (GOG), formerly Ontario Association of Art Galleries / Association Ontarienne des Galeries d’Art (OAAG/AOGA), was established in 1968 to encourage development of public art galleries, art museums, community ...

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compan ...

commissioned a short documentary called 'Touch of Weevil – The Work of Jennifer Angus' documenting one of her installations at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in 2008. In 2015, Angus participated in the exhibition 'Wonder', that celebrated the reopening of the Smithsonian's

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building th ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, with a site-specific installation called 'The Midnight Garden' that used sustainably harvested insects. At the 'Wonder' exhibition at the Renwick Gallery, Angus's installation consisted of about 5,000 dried insects. Work by Angus is in the collection of the

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...

and the fibre art collection of Idea Exchange. Angus is the author of the 2013 fantasy novel, ''In Search of Goliathus Hercules'', which tells the Victorian-era story of a young boy who discovers that he can speak to insects and sets out to find a giant insect on the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The are ...

Notes

External links

Official website

Touch of Weevil - The Work of Jennifer Angus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angus, Jennifer 1961 births Living people 20th-century Canadian artists 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists Artists from Edmonton NSCAD University alumni School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Women installation artists 21st-century Canadian artists Canadian installation artists