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Media - Mixed Media
Website - GREENQUEEN.COM
Email - [email protected]
Phone - 818-667-3590
Born Mary Theresa Fitzgerald July 5, 1961, in Redwood City, California, Green Queen is a 21st
Century Artist and Activist. She originates the term "Activational Art" to describe
her work.
The artist’s heritage is half Swiss and half Irish. She was the youngest child of five
children born to John Martin Fitzgerald, an auditor of the Union Carbide Corporation, and
Bertha Louise Fitzgerald, a lifelong artist. She grew up in a strict Catholic family attending
St. Lawrence Martyr School in Redondo Beach, California from 1966-1975. As a child she loved
art, bodysurfing, and volleyball. She attended South High in Redondo Beach from
1975-1976, then moved to Novato, California 1976-1979 and 1981-1982, graduating from UCSB in
1985.
The artist studied with Wally Hedrick and Scott Chamberlin at Indian Valley College in
Novato, California and studied art and dance at Dominican College, San Raphael, California.
The drawings in her collection are from her Life Drawing classes at Dominican College, and
casual classes with artists in Malibu, California. She completed her studies at the
University of California at Santa Barbara, studying with Graham Budgett, and graduated UCSB in
1985 with a Bachelor of Art, Liberal Studies; focusing her studies on Art, English, and
Political Science.
Influenced by and accepting the idea put forth by her instructor Graham Budgett,
“Life is Art”, and “Beauty is Truth” she continued her art by leading
a vibrant life. in 1986 she married, took the name Mary Fitzgerald Altmann, moved to a
rural community, and became a stay at home mother of three children, helping her then husband
Jim Altmann with his general contracting business. During this time, protecting the
environment where she lived in Malibou Lakeside, California, in the Santa Monica Mountains,
took precedence outside of her family life. She successfully staved off rampant
development becoming a force of reason, and taught herself environmental law defending the
earth.
Believing God is the best artist, Green Queen became acutely aware of saving natural habitat
around her home near Los Angeles, which was being hit by proposals of crippling urban sprawl.
The artist staged peaceful, creative environmental protests including dance and visual art,
and produced a commercial to Save Ahmanson Ranch which aired on cable television. In
1996, she founded S.E.E. ("Social and Environmental Entreprenuers") Save Ahmanson
Ranch and created an Art show entitled “Artists Change the world by Saving Ahmanson
Ranch”. She founded the first “EWALA” (Earth Water Air Los Angeles)
1997, a four day trek linking Ahmanson Ranch with the Ballona Wetlands, which contributed to
the preservation of Ahmanson Ranch (now called Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve)
and approximately 70% of the Ballona Wetlands. As Director of the Resource Conservation
District of the Santa Monica Mountains (1994-1998), the artist drafted a compilation of zoning
and grading laws from other districts in California, and submitted them to Los Angeles
County Regional Planning, which led to the creation of the North Area Plan, limiting
irresponsible development.
Teaching herself environmental law, the artist successfully won a Private Attorney General
lawsuit in Mary
Altmann v. The City of Agoura Hills City Council (BS104251) which prevented thousands of
square feet of commercial and residential development from moving forward without a plan to
conserve endangered species.
Green Queen’s signature works are “Freedom”, a series of 26 paintings
created in 1996 using wood, glue, acrylic paint, and projector film. Art influences
include Native American cave painting, Marc Chagall, and Vincent Van Gogh among others.
Parts of the projector film used to define the space are gradually deteriorating over time in
planned entropy, similar to the ego. Her goal is to assist in ushering in a Matriachal Society
and being a significant Art Influence of the 21st Century.
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