National Arts Award Goes to Gwinnett's Own Kathy Andrews Fincher

Caption: Kathy Fincher, Women in the Arts Recognition Award Winner, is pictured next to The Dream Keepers with Lydia McGill, Chapter Regent of Philadelphia Winn DAR. The original painting is displayed in the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum as a gift from Fincher.

Kathy Andrews Fincher presented a program to the Lawrenceville Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) on Sunday, October 19, 2014. She received the American Heritage Committee Women in the Arts Recognition Award certificate and lapel pin that are available to women who are either DAR or non-DAR members who have contributed to their field in an outstanding manner beyond mastery of technique.

Gaining widespread attention outside the arts community, Fincher won the award for her painting The Dream Keepers, executed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. She was inspired to create an artwork that would eclipse the dark imagery of the day, and she ended up with her rendition of triumphant American children painting a United States flag. A Christian cross emerging through the light from the windows is seen as the prevailing force.

Fincher chronicled how her early life was dominated by skiing competitions, but then how it broadened out to encompass her roles as wife and mother. Her artistic talents grew from her personal relationship with God into subject matters dominated by plenty of light and children with which she is now synonymous. She is regarded as one of the most licensed children artists in the world. Her next installation will be a bronze sculpture at the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, GA.

The Chapter is pleased to note that Fincher has some connections to DAR. Her aunt in Duluth was a member. Moreover, her sorority sister is the Former President General Presley Merritt Wagoner. To find out more about the National Society DAR, go to http://www.dar.org/. For specific information about the Philadelphia Winn Chapter, email philwinndar@gmail.com. For more about the artist, see http://www.kathyfincher.com/