TWISTED BETWEEN THE EARS – INSIDE THE MIND OF ARTIST MARY FLEENER – August 2019 by Kyle Thomas (Encinitas Magazine Stories of Encinitas CA)
By all outward appearances she indeed seems to be a
law-abiding, mild-mannered artist and a typical garden tending homeowner, but
in reality confesses to being, “Twisted between the ears.”
Meet our very own Encinitas comic book hero, artist, and storyteller,
Mary Fleener, who has been living quietly amongst us since 1981.
Encinitas Artist Mary FleenerMary shows off her biggest art project to date… her entire house! Estimated time spent; 200 hours. Comprising recycled tiles, glass, dinnerware, random thrift store treasures and much more. Mary discovered you can stick anything to your house!
Mary Fleener’s prolific career was recently honored at the
2019 Comic-Con Convention held in San Diego in July, as Comic-Con’s Special
Guest, in recognition of her lifetime achievements through her phenomenal body
of artwork and graphic novel storytelling. As a Special Guest, Mary is being
treated like a rock star… wined and dined and housed in the finest hotel, “In
exchange for speaking on 100 panels during the weekend”, laughs Mary.
It was at one of these panel talks that Mary literally
almost fell out of her chair when they presented her with the prestigious
Inkpot Award, which now puts her onto the elite Gold Member A-List for Comic-Con
and Wonder-Con. Only ten Inkpots are given each year.
Apparition on the Road Less Traveled by Mary Fleener
Art was something that Mary was born into. “My mother
was an artist and fashion designer and we always had art supplies around the
house”, recalls Mary. “An artist is all I ever remember being.”
Mary found her muse and finally her voice after discovering the
work of underground comic book artist Robert Crumb, Robert Armstrong’s Mickey Rat, and the Hernandez Brothers
who created the Love and Rockets
series.
“I always harbored a secret desire to do cartooning, but I wasn’t inspired until I was in my ‘30’s, in 1984.”
By 1987 Mary was now displaying her artwork for the second
year at her booth in Comic-Con when one of her colorful Cubismo styled 16″
x 20″ paintings caught the eye of a New York tattoo artist with long black
hair and a gold tooth. Totally in love with the painting, he talked Mary into a
trade and went home with her painting.
“Three years later”, Mary recounts, “I heard through the grapevine that the guy had gotten a tattoo of the painting, but I hadn’t seen it yet. Then one day I walked into Leucadia Liquor and my husband Paul says, ‘Oh my God, look at that!’ and on the cover of Outlaw Biker Tattoo magazine was the tattoo artist displaying his full-back tattoo of my painting.”
“On the cover of Outlaw Biker Tattoo magazine was the tattoo artist displaying his full-back tattoo of my painting.”
Mary’s drawings and the stories she tells, are in many ways
autobiographical and inspired by her own life’s experiences, hopes, and
desires, as is reflected In Mary’s 120-page hardcover, 2019 graphic novel, Billie The Bee.
“The Snake character is very wise
and fatalistic, which I wish I could be” laughs Mary. “She’s got this Zen
approach to life, that you take it as it comes and you don’t worry about it. I
wish I could be like that. I think it’s a wise way to live” muses Mary,
“Instead of worrying about everything, like the Turtles in Billie the Bee, for example, they worry, worry, worry! That’s
another part of my personality, I worry too much.”
Snake – Billie the Bee
Billie the Bee, on the other hand, says Mary, “Is a song and
dance man, like myself, so I wanted my character to have some sort of musical
talent. When I’m on stage I’m a bit of a ham, so I put that into my character,
Billie the Bee.”
From the Graphic novel – Billie The Bee sings, “When it’s the Weirdest Day Of Your Life!”
Asked about her artistic style, Mary explains, “It’s all
about contrast and clarity. I like to look at art that is visually kinetic. I’m
really critical about colors. Color is real important to me.“
Artist Mary Fleener
How did you settle on
moving to Encinitas?
“Paul my husband, surfed here in high school. He brought me
here on my first visit to Encinitas where we stayed at the Campgrounds in
Cardiff. My second trip here we hung out at Beacon’s, ate tacos and I saw the
dolphins surfing, and that was it. I told Paul ‘Quit your job, we’re moving
down here’. He said, ‘Sure!’”
“Many of these objects were things I’d carried around with me for many, many years, some since high school.”
“We went back to L.A. and gathered up all my art
supplies and music equipment. I had just inherited and sold my Grandma’s house
in South Central L.A., which was next door to the guy that started the Crypts,
and with that money, in 1981, we came back to Encinitas, found a fixer-upper
house up a dirt road on Ocean View Avenue, made the down payment on it, and
we’ve been here ever since”.
What do you love
about Encinitas?
“I just like the people. It’s a diverse community, but
everybody lives together, everybody’s stuck in traffic together and everybody
has to stand in line together. I think it’s the most integrated community I’ve
really ever experienced. Everybody is just happy to be here.”
And in closing, Mary Fleener’s philosophy of life: “Try
everything once!”
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Laura Browne
August 10, 2019 , 2:51 PM
Laura Browne
August 10, 2019 , 2:54 PM
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Rick Hallahan
September 25, 2022 , 6:41 PM