The Magical World of Joan Danziger
This documentary is about American sculptor Joan Danziger. A renowned Washington, DC artist, Joan Danziger, works in a phantasmagorical world populated with animals, nature, and myths. Delving into metaphor and psychology, Danziger’s sculptures range from playfully surreal to symbolically potent. As the artist describes, ”[My sculptures] are reaching into the heart of nature to evoke mysterious and secret worlds which draw upon my fascination with dream imagery and metamorphosis.”
Born in 1934 in Queens and educated at Cornell University, Danziger started her art career as an abstract painter. After turning to sculpture, her oeuvre has encompassed large-scale animals to Lilliputian fantastical scenes, and, more recently, prolonged series on trees and beetles. Currently, metal sculptures of horses and ravens hold her attention.
Her work includes large sculptures of beetles and hybrid human-animals. Natural and mythical realms collide in "The Magical World of Joan Danziger", premiering February 7, 2026 at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC. Spanning 60 years of imaginative artistry, the exhibition is the first career retrospective for Danziger, who is actively producing art at the age of 91. Concurrent exhibition "Ravens: Spirits of the Sky" features her most recent works, 22 large glass and metal ravens sculptures
"Joan Danziger's imagination inhabits a surreal world of myth and magic". explained Jack Rasmussen, director and curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center." This retrospective invites us into her beguiling garden of delights, where her beautifully crafted imaginings are metaphors for our contemplation.
Danziger has been a working artist since the 1960's. This film traces her evolution from an abstract painter to a multimedia artist who transforms her creations into three-dimensional sculptures. This documentary explores works, including mixed-media sculptures, works on paper and canvas, showing the breath and depth of her artistic journey. As an artist, she has metamorphosed from a painter to a sculptor to a glass artist.
My main narrative has always been involved with the mysticism of nature and how animals and humans react to each other" Danziger said. "The detachment between humans and the earth has fed us into this current environment crisis.
Her public commissions can be seen along the Eastern seaboard in Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, DC. She has exhibited in museums form New York to California, and her work is included in the collections of museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of Women in the Arts ( Washington, DC), Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ and San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California.
