Born in Michigan, Daniel was the son of a man whose heart remained on the farm, but who worked as a CPA tax attorney to support nine children. His example of a strong work ethic was a significant influence in the sculptor's life, as were early opportunities for encountering original art. When the family lived near Philadelphia, Dan would accompany his older brothers and sisters to concerts in the city's sprawling Fairmount Park, where he saw public sculpture for the first time. He visited Philadelphia's art museums, and when the family moved to Delaware, he cultivated a deep love of nature through time spent in the woods.



During high school, 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 says. At Colorado State University he enrolled in courses with a track to veterinary medicine, but he soon discovered, as he puts it, ''My heart wasn't in the books.'' It was in art. Having spent countless hours drawing since he was a boy, he switched to art for two years at CSU and then left school for a year to do illustration work as a field assistant in Panama for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.



When he returned to school, this time at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Glanz was aiming for an illustration degree. But something urged him to strike out on his own instead. Soon life, including marriage and children, intervened, and art was put on hold. He worked in construction and photography and created fine furniture in wood. But in the mid-1990s, he recalls, ''I decided one day that I really needed to get back to where I always wanted to go.'' The desire for expression through fine art, in forms that reflected his lifelong passion for the animal world, could no longer be denied.



Having studied sculpture in college, Glanz joined a foundry crew in Loveland, working part time to learn bronze casting hands-on, and he began creating his own work. He studied the approach of artists he admired, including Italian sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti, and developed what has become his own compelling, classically inspired style. Essential to this style is a loose, textural approach that accurately establishes an animal's physical traits and solid sense of presence without bogging down in detail. A creature's species is announced through its distinguishing form and pose, while skillfully rendered facial expressions—especially the eyes—convey the individual animal's personality and state of mind.