The circus captured in banner art
Glen Davies knows a thing or two about the circus.
A muralist by trade, he traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus in the 1970s as well as working as the carnival show painter for several companies.
He will share his stories of the circus and sideshows, display his circus banner art and present a slideshow featuring 100 years of circus banner art at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at Bloomingdale Public Library, 101 Fairfield Way, Bloomingdale. An artist’s reception with refreshments will begin at 2 p.m.
Davies, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, has had his artwork exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and the Field Museum. In addition to his firsthand knowledge of the circus and sideshow world, he is an expert on the evolution and history of circus banner and sideshow art. Sideshow banners have their roots in medieval Europe and North Africa, but the large-scale banners we see today did not emerge until Barnum and Bailey and other American circuses used the garish banners to appeal to a mostly illiterate public, Davies says.
He became interested in sideshow art after a trip to Riverview in 1968. He later got to know many of the sideshow performers and saw their numbers decline.
“I was mostly painting things like the sides of trucks as, because of the criticism, fewer circuses had sideshows. If they did, it was places like the Rawls Circus, which had fewer ‘freaks’ but performers like magicians, sword swallowers and clowns,” he said.
Davies appears as part of the October “On the Same Page” series of programs presented by Bloomingdale Public Library, Roselle Public Library and Itasca Community Library. The 2013 book selection is “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. Children will read a related title, “The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate.
For information on this or other programs in the series, call the Bloomingdale Public Library at (630) 529-3120, Itasca Community Library at (630) 773-1699 or the Roselle Public Library at (630) 529-1641.