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ABOUT
THE ARTIST |
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| Betty
Finch, founder of the Kern County Gourd Patch, was the regional
coordinator of the patch for the first 7 years. She
has won many blue ribbons in gourd crafting shows including
Arizona
,
California
,
Florida
,
Indiana
, and
Ohio
. Betty has won best of show
at The Ohio Gourd show, The Fallbrook National Gourd Fine
Art Show, the Paso Robles Gourd Art Show, The Kern County
Fair Fine Arts Professional Sculpture, The California Gourd
Society state competition (twice), Celebrate Ag with the
Arts in Madera, CA, Arts Council of Kern Animal House
Exhibition and the 52nd Lodi Invitational Art Show. |
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| (PHOTO) Headed towards
the podium,
kipping to the music of "Don't
Worry Be Happy", Betty Finch was made an honorary member of
the "Women Inspiring Girls" alumni at the October 4 "Girl
Scouts of Central California" luncheon. |
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| Betty
has served as a judge at state gourd shows in
California
,
Indiana
, and
Florida
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| During
her 25 year career in law enforcement Betty attended the FBI National
Academy Facial Imaging Course and the Scottsdale Artist’s School
Suspect Composite Course. The
influence of that training is apparent in the human-like faces on many
of her gourds. |
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| Betty
completed several sections on the
California
“Traveling Gourd” pictured above.
A detail of her woodburned section featuring a portrait of gourd
grower, Doug Welburn, is pictured below. |
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| Betty
was a speaker at the 2005 International Forum on Gourds in
Huludao
,
China
. She has been invited to
speak about gourds at numerous gardening clubs including Master
Gardeners, The Rose Society and Green Thumb Gardening Club as well as
Rotary Clubs and other business organizations. |
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| Betty
loves to entertain others with her gourd creations such as marionettes
and masks. |
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Mr.
Pan Dongbo, of Huludo,
China
working Betty’s |
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bird
marionette at Gourd Fair LA in 2004. |
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| She
entertains senior citizens at many of the retirement communities in her
area. |
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| Betty
is an avid gardener and specializes in experimenting with hand-trained,
manipulated and molded gourds. This
interest is what led her to meet with master gourd trainer, Jim Story of
Pendleton Indiana from whom she learned the art of growing gourds in
knots, spirals and flat wood molds.
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L
to R Jim Story, Betty Finch, Joe Lee at the
Indiana
Gourd Festival. |
| In
2005 Betty sought out world renowned molded gourd grower, Mr. Zhang
Cairi at his farm outside of
Tianjin
,
China
. This learning
experience ultimately resulted in her co-authoring “The Immortal
Molded Gourds of Mr. Zhang Cairi” with Guojun Zhang. |
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Mr.
Zhang Cairi showing Betty the molded gourds in his garden. |
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Goujun
Zhang poses with gourdman and Gourdwoman in front of Betty’s studio. |
| Betty continues experimenting with growing
gourds at ther ranch in Tehachapi,
California
where she lives with her Border Collie dogs, Appaloosa Horses, and
husband, Ken. |
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Betty’s dog, Panda
and horse, DREA Chelsa Twoshadow (Winnie). |
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