Diane Louise Green (born May 28, 1957) is an American-born artist, musician, singer/songwriter, poet, and dancer. In the late 1970s, Diane was in the University of Memphis Modern Dance program, as well as the Harry Bryce Afro-Caribbean dance company. Diane co-founded The Hellcats, a Memphis psychobilly blues group that began in the 1980s, with Lorette Velvette. The Hellcats recorded two LPs and 45's in Memphis and toured with Tav Falco's Panther Burns. Throughout the 2000s Diane Green's paintings and other artworks have been in over 36 shows primarily across the midwestern U.S. Diane was raised in an East Memphis neighborhood attending Richland Elementary and Junior High, graduating a year early from White Station High School in 1974. Diane went on to study Old English literature, Psychology, Astronomy, Modern Dance, and Fine Art at the University of Memphis, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Memphis College of Art, and Rhodes College.Diane traveled throughout the late 1970s writing poetry and painting in sketchbooks as she adventured throughout the Deep South, Northeast, and Southwest America. Arriving back in Memphis in 1978, Diane studied and focused on modern dance. She was inspired by Kaysee Cloud, was influenced by Isadora Duncan, and performed with the Harry Bryce Afro-Caribbean Dance Company.In 1982, Diane continued her devotion to the arts at Memphis College of Art and graduated in 1984 with a BFA in painting. Soon after Diane's graduation, she was invited to join classmates in an offbeat improvisational music group called the Odd Jobs, where she focused on singing, songwriting, and poetry. The Odd Jobs played in various Memphis nightclubs such as the Antenna Club, Fred's Hideout, and events at the Overton Park Shell. The Odd Jobs band was included in Tav Falco's Frenzi Record's 1986 compilation of Memphis area artists entitled Swamp Surfing in Memphis. The album featured one of Diane Green's popular songs "Girl From Frayser".In 1985, Diane was approached by Lorette Velvette from Tav Falco's Panther Burns to join her in creating the all-woman, rockabilly blues band The Hellcats. The Hellcats were featured on Swamp Surfing in Memphis from the Australian label Au Go-Go. The Hellcats later recorded and published Cherry Mansions an EP in 1988, and Hoodoo Train LP in 1990 on the French label New Rose Records. All the Hellcats' music was recorded at Easley McCain Recording in Memphis Tennessee. Diane performed with The Hellcats throughout the North America alongside Tav Falco's Panther Burns in the 1980s.In 1990, Diane Green relocated to Chicago IL. She married Jim McArdle; they had two children. Diane then created a fiber arts clothing company named Original Face. Her creations were popularly featured in Chicago art fairs, as well as in New York City's fashion world.While Diane was in full swing with her clothing company in 1997, she fell and had a traumatic brain injury. She was hospitalized in ICU for a week and remained unconscious for over 3 months. A year later, Diane was diagnosed with epilepsy and has continued recovery ever since. But her creativity remained and in 1998 Diane started painting full time.In 2001, Diane went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and graduated with a Master of Arts in Art Therapy.While in graduate school Diane established a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization called the Museum of Universal Self Expression or M.U.S.E. for short. The mission of this non-profit was to help maintain art programs for underserved communities, especially underprivileged people in recovery. Works, such as sculptures, and murals, from a variety of art programs in Chicago, have been featured throughout the city. Today Diane is writing a series of "poetically theorized science fiction" novel. The first one is titled "God is a Woman in a Rice Field" and will be released in early 2024.
