Butter not miss it
By Mark J. Lucas |
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This year, the Ohio State Fair will boast attractions from Kenny Rogers and Glenn Campbell to Kelly Clarkson and Alice Cooper. While all of these acts are great, my favorite fair-time activity is grabbing a milkshake in the dairy products building and ogling the infamous Butter Cow.
The Butter Cow has been a staple of the Ohio State Fair since the 1920s, but this work of creamy, buttery goodness doesn't make itself. In fact, it takes almost two months to plan and execute the construction of this sculpture from head to dairy-aire.
Bob Kling sculpting butting into art
Photos Courtesy of the American Dairy Association
"I tell people it takes a week," said Bob Kling, designer and sculptor of the annual Butter Cow since 1999, "but that's just the execution. The planning takes about three weeks. Back in March is when we start thinking about what's worthy for execution in butter. Then I make maquettes, which are models to see how things would fit together. That's an additional three weeks."
Contrary to my dearest hope, the Butter Cow is not constructed entirely of butter. Once the design is complete, Kling creates a wire armature covered with hardware cloth, onto which he will affix and sculpt the butter. Created in his back yard in Cincinnati, these armatures will later be shipped to the fair so the process can begin.
"It would be impossible to make it out of solid butter," Kling said. "Butter doesn't have that kind of integrity. We use unsalted butter, because the salt makes it want to shear and fall away."
Once the armatures arrive at the fair, they are placed in a refrigerated display case. The American Dairy Association donates the 3,200 sticks of butter it takes to complete the sculpture. The butter is left out for a couple of days, so that it becomes creamy and easy to mold. After its initial application, the detailed artwork begins. Kling, accompanied by sculptors Alex Ealz and Paul Brooke, takes to the cold to begin crafting the Cow's features.
"It's 46 degrees in the cooler," said Kling. "We're wearing a lot more clothing than the people on the other side of the glass."
Birth of a Butter Dynasty
Kling, Ealz and Brooke did not get their start in butter sculpting. The three know each other from Hasbro, a toy company in Cincinnati. If that name sounds familiar, it's because it's one of the largest toy companies in the world, which currently puts out such classics as Mr. Potato Head, Nerf, Star Wars, Transformers, and G.I. Joe toys.
The Butter Cow is made of 3,200 sticks of unsalted butter.
Photos Courtesy of the American Dairy Association
Kling himself began working for King Productions, and created the Puppet Tree at King's Island. He then got a job working for Kenner Products, a toy company where he sculpted a number of classic toys, including Philbert the Inchworm from Strawberry Shortcake, the Biker Scout from Star Wars, most of the D.C. Comics "Super Powers" action figures, and others from lines such as Terminator, Beetlejuice, Starting Line-up, and Waterworld. He retired as Director of Sculpting for Hasbro in 2000.
All three artists endeavor to bring the same panache to the creation of the Butter Cow.
"We really try to make them accurate, for the one person that would know what it would really look like," said Kling. "The milk vein in the cow, lumps on the back, hair and such. We try to give it a different feeling every year. This year it will have more coat, so it looks like a spring cow. We try to make it just a little bit more interesting. That's just our nature."
That attention to detail isn't reserved solely for the cow itself. Since the 1920s, a calf has always accompanied the cow, along with an additional piece which - usually - is uniquely Ohioan. This year's extra exhibit is a secret, but past exhibits by Kling have included the Wright Brothers with a butter model of the original engine they used on the first airplane, "Mount Buckeye," featuring all the Ohio-born presidents, and even a butter John Glenn. No matter what the subject, though, Kling says butter is always a challenge to work with.
"Butter's not really a good sculpting medium," Kling said. "That's probably why people think it's odd and unique. [It's] not what you want to get the finest detail. There was a power outage one year, and we had some cracking, so I drove up to Columbus and did some repair work."
Even though it can be tough working with butter, the sculptors enjoy their work. It takes time to put the exhibit together, and the half-million people who pass by it every year appreciate the painstaking effort. This year, the exhibit promises to be just as interesting as it has been for the last 100 years. I just hope that the thing isn't attacked by a colossal stack of pancakes before I get to see it.
Originally Published: August 1, 2009
