Tehachapi artists at Kern County Fair

Tehachapi was well represented at the recent Kern County Fair. ZiYu Hansen and Betty Finch entered their art work at the Kern County Fair. ZiYu Zeng-Hansen gives special thanks and a shout-out to Betty Finch, our local Gourd and Tehachapi Rodeo Poster Artist who encouraged her to enter her painting, succulents and wire sculpture into the Kern County Fair.

Betty Finch entered her gourd art neckless and a gourd art Bulldog Sculpture. Betty received second place for her gourd neckless and a first place ribbon for her beautiful life-like gourd Bulldog Sculpture. Betty Finch also won first place in Vine Crops Division, with Scallop Squash. Unusual and Largest Produce, Best of Show, with a 7-foot long gourd; jewelry, first place and a Special Recognition Award with a hand-crafted gourd jewelry display; Crafts, first place and a special recognition award with a hand-crafted hardshell gourd display.

ZiYu Zing-Hansen has a creative, artistic style and her love of the arts is clearly reflected in her multi use of mediums, water color, mixed media and oil color painting, plants and sculptures. Recently, ZiYu created a wire sculpture of her dog. ZiYu explains that, "This wire sculpture was created to remember my furry puppy, Feifei. He was a Bichon Frise, a happy dog and my bodyguard. His eyes expressed his feelings and used different sounds to express what he wanted. If I didn't understand what he was trying to communicate to me, I would ask, 'What you want?' and sometimes he would either run or stand beside the refrigerator for his favorite cheese snack. I missed him and have many fond memories of him so I had to make a sculpture of him. I wanted to create and remember the love of my dog. To create his likeness, I sculptured using several different gauges of wire was used for the body, eyes and fur and rocks for his little feet. Large gauge wire for the frame of his body with smaller sized wire shaped each in curly patterns with some shapes of flowers to provide a furry artistic appearance. To be able to display my dog in the front room, I looped each wire to prevent sharp points from snagging clothes and give the natural appearance of the breed. The Bichon Frise has a unique tail, so I designed it in a flower pattern giving motion and fullness, with a hint of artistic flair!"

ZiYu also enter two Floriculture Exhibits; one for her Cactus and Succulent Collection composition of a variety of ten different types of succulents receiving Best of Division and a First Place ribbon for her work. She also received a Second Place ribbon for a medium succulent she entered.

ZiYu also received an Honorable Mention for her Non-Professional Watercolor painting of Koi fish she titled "Playful".

ZiYu and Betty look forward to proudly representing Tehachapi when entering their art work next year at the Kern County Fair.