Angus, Jennifer

I teach in the Textile and Apparel Design Program in the area of textile design, and I’m an affiliate of the Art Department. My research is driven by my interest in pattern. Without a written word, pattern upon cloth can communicate much about its wearer, whether it be sex, age, ethnic identity, or status within a community. There is a cultural understanding of pattern. That understanding provides a framework or potential for a narrative. I encourage students to think of pattern as a powerful tool that goes far beyond enhancing a surface.

My studio practice involves creating site specific installations composed of patterns using hundreds of insects, placing them in arrangements that suggest wallpaper and textiles. ArtDaily described my exhibitions as some of the most provocative work most people have ever seen in an art museum setting, and as “one of the top contemporary installation artists in the country.” I was one of nine contemporary artists selected for the landmark exhibition “Wonder” at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in 2015, which was viewed by half a million people. In 2013, Albert Whitman and Company, Chicago, published my first novel, In Search of Goliathus Hercules.

I am the faculty leader of the Global Artisans Initiative, which launched an interdisciplinary outreach program that connects students with artisans who have requested assistance with microenterprise development. The program leverages the relationships that the University of Wisconsin has built over many years at global health field course sites in Ecuador, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, and Vietnam to create a product design and marketplace system to support the economic wellbeing of local artisans.

Read my research profile

For more, see Angus’ CV.