Aug 04 2009
Butter Me Up: Crazy Crafted Butter Sculpture
My very first hotel position consisted of an enormous kitchen that catered to banquet halls. Every day, I would spend my morning making butter molds for the afternoon luncheons. How interesting that butter has become so fancy and oddly placed in unique forms for the sole purpose of spreading it on rolls and breads.
In fact, I never really knew that the origin of butter sculpture came from the Tibetans who took Yak butter and dye to create “temporary symbols for the Tibetan New Year and other religious celebrations.”
by pwbaker(PA)
Even in the United States, butter sculpture was making it’s debut at state fairs in the 19th century. The first recorded sculpture in the US was created by Carolyn Brooks for the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.
by pwbaker
In 1910 the first Butter cow was created by Mr. Daniels at the Iowa State Fair. The exhibit was a way to promote the dairy industry to visitors to the fair. It was so popular that it continued every year. During the 1940’s, following in Daniels footsteps in 1910 and starting a revolution on his own, JE Wallace started making sculptures out of butter to depict life and nature.
“Frank Dutt became the official sculptor. Dutt was trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and had experience sculpting many materials, from plaster and clay to lard. Over the next few years he sculpted cows in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, spreading the love of the Buttercow throughout the Midwest United States. His additions to each year’s exhibit were far more cartoonish than those of J.E. Wallace, depicting such things as a fight between political party mascots or a parade of smiling pigs.”
Butter sculpture by artist Jim Victor in The Great New York State Fair 2007
Interestingly enough, many people assumed that these amazing sculptures were crafted out of a solid block of butter, but they were wrong. Most sculptors won’t admit that the butter is placed on wooden and wire molds in large amounts to achieve the shape, then smaller amounts are used for detail. Several layers of butter are used to build up the large mass that we see in the picture above.
Source
The Minnesota State Fair showcases butter sculpture in the Princess Kay of the Milky Way contest. A 90 lb block of butter is taken and carved in their likeness. It’s so bizarre really. I had the opportunity to see this several years ago with my sister. It’s funny that pageant finalists spend their whole lives avoiding fat, and at the fair their faces are full of it.
Butter sculpture also made it’s way to Canada, with the Ontario Cream Producers Marketing Board and the Dairy Producers of Canada campaigning to promote their products after World War II. Butter sculptures were displayed at both the Canadian National Exhibition and Royal Agricultural Winter Fairs in Toronto. Ross Butler (artist) was the first Canadian artist to sculpt in butter at these fairs.
The Butter Wagon
by jmgold (Springfield, MA)
The Great New York State Fair (Cow Jumping Over Moon)
by brauksieck
Harrisburg, PA
by Robbie1
