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Glamour Magazine / July 14, 1996

WOMEN RIGHT NOW

A statuesque Iowan
lights up New York

Two days a week, twelve months a year, Jennifer Stewart paints herself green, puts on a toga and strikes a pose as the Statue of Liberty in New York City tourist districts. Is she crazy? No -- it's her job. Stewart, otherwise known as Living Liberty, is a performance artist who, when not uplifting huddled masses of tourists, provides visual impact at meetings, parties and conventions in the New York area.
    Stewart was first made aware of her resemblance to Lady Liberty in 1985, when she was a mild-mannered art therapist working with mentally ill adults in Iowa City, Iowa. One morning, a patient (a diagnosed schizophrenic) suddenly woke up, saw Stewart and said, "You look like the Statue of Liberty!" A year later, Stewart noticed a newspaper ad about a national Statue of Liberty look-alike contest and remembered her patient's comment. She smeared herself with water-based house paint (matching the color to an oxidized penny), constructed a costume from various household items (including a mop, a laundry basket, a paper towel roll and an empty Cool Whip container), and voilą -- she won.
    "I was the only contestant who was green," laughs Stewart. "My friend took a picture; I'm sitting at the end of a row and there are nine rows of women in white glaring at me." A few months later, walking through New York City's Washington Square Park, Stewart realized people might pay her just for posing in her costume. So she donned her outfit, set a container in front of her, raised her torch and watched the bucket fill.  Living Liberty was born.

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