Jennifer Angus

{{short description|Canadian artist}}

File:Jennifer Angus's "In the Midnight Garden" .jpg

Jennifer Angus (born 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664074/meet-jennifer-angus-an-artist-whose-medium-is-insects-slideshow | title=Meet Jennifer Angus, An Artist Whose Medium Is Insects | publisher=Fast Company & Inc | work=fastcodesign.com | date=15 June 2011 | accessdate=1 November 2015 | author=Jao, Carren | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811042231/https://www.fastcodesign.com/1664074/meet-jennifer-angus-an-artist-whose-medium-is-insects-slideshow | archive-date=11 August 2017 | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=http://www.artnews.com/2010/01/01/beetlemania/ | title=Beetlemania | publisher=Artnews Ltd. | work=ArtNEWS | date=1 January 2010 | accessdate=1 November 2015 | author=Miranda, Carolina A.}} Angus anthropomorphizes insects in the hope that she can change people's entomophobia and create an interest in the role that insects play in ecosystems.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/science/04angier.html?_r=0 | title=Of Compost, Molecules and Insects, Art Is Born - The New York Times | work=The New York Times | date=3 May 2010 | accessdate=1 November 2015 | author=Angier, Nathalie}}

Angus is professor in the Design Studies department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Angus lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin.{{cite web | url=http://ccca.concordia.ca/artists/artist_info.html?link_id=1422 | title=CCCA Artist Profile for Jennifer Angus | work=The CCCA Canadian Art Database | accessdate=1 November 2015 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304193139/http://ccca.concordia.ca/artists/artist_info.html?link_id=1422 | url-status=dead }}

Angus is an alumna of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA).

In 2005, the Textile Museum of Canada showed 'A terrible beauty',{{cite web | url=http://www.textilemuseum.ca/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/a-terrible-beauty | title=TMC Past Exhibitions Textile Museum of Canada | work=Textile Museum of Canada | date=2005 | accessdate=1 November 2015}} a site-specific installation involving 15,000 insects organized in ornamental patterns similar to those found on wallpaper and textiles.{{Cite book| edition = First| publisher = Textile Museum of Canada/ABC Art Books Canada| isbn = 978-2-921801-40-9| last1 = Beaudry| first1 = Eve-Lyne| last2 = Simon| first2 = Kim| title = Jennifer Angus: A Terrible Beauty| location = Toronto, Ont.; Traverse City, Mich.; Joliette, Québec| date = 2008-09-15}} The exhibition won the 2006 Exhibition Award from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries.{{cite web | url=http://oaag.org/awards/2006winners.html | title=OAAG online: Ontario Association of Art Galleries website | publisher=Ontario Association of Art Galleries | accessdate=1 November 2015 | archive-date=27 January 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127162156/http://oaag.org/awards/2006winners.html | url-status=dead }}

Bravo 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.digitalthreads.ca/en/Nature/jennifer.cfm | title=DigitalThreads - Nature, the Environment and Weird Materials | publisher=Textile Museum of Canada | accessdate=1 November 2015}}

In 2015, Angus participated in the exhibition 'Wonder', that celebrated the reopening of the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., with a site-specific installation called 'The Midnight Garden' that used sustainably harvested insects.{{cite web | url=http://www.dezeen.com/2015/10/15/bugs-wallpaper-installations-renwick-gallery-smithsonian-washington-dc-jennifer-angus-wonder-exhibition/ | title=Bugs adorn the walls at Renwick Gallery in Washington DC | publisher=Dezeen Limited | work=dezeen.com | date=15 October 2015 | accessdate=1 November 2015}}{{cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/10/19/jennifer_angus_installs_insect_wallpaper_at_the_renwick_gallery_smithsonian.html | title=Jennifer Angus installs insect wallpaper at the Renwick Gallery Smithsonian reopening. | publisher=The Slate Group | work=slate.com | date=19 October 2015 | accessdate=1 November 2015 | author=Hohenadel, Kristin}}

At the 'Wonder' exhibition at the Renwick Gallery, Angus's installation consisted of about 5,000 dried insects.{{cite web|title=Jennifer Angus Wallpapers Renwick Gallery with a Pattern of 5,000 Exotic Bugs|url=http://www.designboom.com/art/jennifer-angus-bug-wallpaper-wonder-smithsonian-american-art-museum-renwick-gallery-10-06-2015/|website=Design Bloom|accessdate=9 March 2017|date=October 6, 2015}}

Work by Angus is in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Design{{cite web | url=http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Jennifer%20Angus&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/2167/,/false/,/true | title=Museum of Arts and Design Collection Database | publisher=Museum of Arts and Design | accessdate=1 November 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185755/http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people¤trecord=1&searchdesc=Jennifer%20Angus&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid%2F%2C%2Fis%2F%2C%2F2167%2F%2C%2Ffalse%2F%2C%2Ftrue | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }} and the fibre art collection of Idea Exchange.{{Cite web|url = https://ideaexchange.org/art/person/jennifer-angus|title = Jennifer Angus|date = |accessdate = 1 November 2015|website = Idea Exchange|publisher = |last = |first = |archive-date = 16 July 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200716034257/https://ideaexchange.org/art/person/jennifer-angus|url-status = dead}}

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.