Daniel Glanz
Award-winning sculptor Daniel Glanz began his career in illustration and fine art photography with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute after attending Colorado State University and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His work, renowned for its energy, movement, and technical mastery, captures a timeless intimacy between subject and viewer. Both his figurative and wildlife sculptures share a powerful yet elegant quality, drawn from his classical approach to form and composition.
Glanz’s art is deeply rooted in observation and empathy. “I try to bring out a certain unique aspect of the animal,” he says. “Even with dogs, some are high energy, some are big and lumbering and the sweetest things in the world.” His French Bulldog sculpture, commissioned by a doctor whose canine companion never leaves his side, embodies this spirit. “I realize I might be anthropomorphizing to a certain extent,” Glanz acknowledges, “but I think that even wild animals have more personality traits than people give them credit for.”
Travel is both inspiration and nourishment for Glanz. “Travel nourishes all of my senses and my psyche,” he says. “Being welcomed into another culture, such as Kenya, transforms my sensibilities as an artist and a citizen. Kenya’s colors open the mind’s eye, and witnessing nature and animals at close distance urges me to pay attention to every detail.” His journeys to Africa, Central and South America, the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, and Hawaii keep him deeply engaged and alert. “A sculptor tends to look at things from top to bottom and all the way around,” he notes. “Observing from life is so important, it gives you the ability to determine whether something looks right. It needs to balance; it needs to flow; it needs to be anatomically accurate.”
Born into a large family of nine children, Glanz was the son of a man whose heart remained on the farm, though he worked as a CPA and tax attorney. His father’s strong work ethic and love of nature left a lasting impression. Growing up near Philadelphia, Glanz encountered original art and public sculpture in Fairmount Park and visited the city’s museums, sparking an early fascination with the creative process. Later, in Delaware, he developed a deep love of the natural world through time spent exploring the woods.
As a teenager, Glanz worked for a veterinarian and spent summers as a biological field assistant in southern California and Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, trapping small mammals for research. “I was always interested in working with animals,” he recalls. At Colorado State University, he initially pursued a path toward veterinary medicine but soon realized that, as he puts it, “My heart wasn’t in the books, it was in art.” Having drawn since childhood, he shifted his studies to art and later joined the Smithsonian’s field program in Panama, combining his artistic skills with his passion for nature.
Today, Glanz creates his sculptures in his Loveland, Colorado studio, producing works that range in scale from table-top pieces to monumental installations. His editions and commissions grace private collections, both nationally and internationally, as well as public art programs.
He is an Elected Member of the National Sculpture Society (NSS), a National Sculptors’ Guild Member, and a Signature Member of the Society of Animal Artists (SAA).
