“Kudzu-Mama” - Born in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1971, Beth Borden has lived most of her life (with the exception of a few months living in central Italy) in the South.  Raised on a dairy farm, Beth was immersed in the natural world and the arts played a very important role in her life from the beginning.  “My mom instilled within me a love of traditional crafts like crocheting, cross-stitch and needlepoint. We were always working on some kind of project… Thinking creatively is vital when you live on a farm. Sometimes you have to make do with what you have.  As a child, I quickly learned to think outside the box.” 

Graduating from The University of North Alabama in 1996 with a BA in Visual Arts, Beth has spent most of her time since, pursuing her own passions and unschooling her children.  In fact, it was at the request of her kids and cousins to help them find something to do that Beth stumbled upon the idea of using kudzu vines as a sculpture medium. She was inspired by the natural twisting and turning the vines took and the textures and knots and loops that were created as the vines grow onto each other and onto the trees around her house. “There is so much chaos and struggle involved when I am first working on a piece and doing the initial wrap around the framework and then suddenly, it begins taking shape and almost seems to have a life of its own.  Working the entangled vines into a figure is, for me, a wonderful metaphor of society and humanity and the tenaciousness of life and nature.”  Beth receives constant inspiration from the natural world around her and through her interest in goddess mythology and Divine Feminine iconography, declaring that the curvilinear shape of the kudzu vines lends itself beautifully to shaping the female form.

She debuted her kudzu sculptures at What’s On 2^nd in November, 2007 and has since shown in various venues around Birmingham including Los Angeles, the UAB Hill University Center and the 2007 and 2008 Southern Roots Exhibition at the Birmingham Public Library.  She is currently represented by The Route of Art in Florence, AL and Big Mama Hula Girl Art Gallery in Grayton Beach, FL.  She and her family live in Southside in an old house nestled next to a hill of kudzu.