There was a time, not that long ago, when I thought that state fairs were all about noise, heat and corn dogs. Not that there’s anything wrong with corn dogs.
Then I discovered the competitive aspect of these celebrations of agriculture and the homely arts–quilting, baking and such.
Now I can’t get enough of them and every summer you’ll find me on the fair circuit visiting nearby counties and neighboring states, just to see what’s new.
But it was at our own Illinois State Fair in Springfield that I spotted the oeuvre of Sharon BuMann, the talent behind the butter cow. Last year’s homage to Illinois dairy products sculpted entirely out of butter was a tableau that included not just the life-size cow but also her frolicking calf, a little girl reading a book to her dog and a wise old owl in a tree. It was jaw-dropping.
I called BuMann, 54, at her home studio in Central Square, N.Y., to learn more. She said working with butter is exactly like sculpting clay except you have to do it in “snow clothes” in a refrigerator, at temperatures from 37 to 43 degrees.
The sculpture usually takes 80 to 100 hours and she works 12 very chilly hours a day but usually winds up pulling an all-nighter before the opening day (this year that’s Aug. 8 with pop star Fergie performing, agr.state.il.us/isf).
Then our conversation turned to talk of other untraditional sculpting materials.
BuMann was surprised when I told her about Seattle artist Diem Chau, 29, who carves tiny people out of crayons like the one here from The Future Perfect, a store in Brooklyn ($199, thefutureperfect.com; diemchau.com).
Chau likens her work to folk art, whittling a person out of a stick or making a totem pole, with each sculpture telling a story.
Chau is ahead of her time. So far, no state fair has launched a crayon carving competition. But if they did, the little orange girl holding her book bag would surely win the blue ribbon.
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— The world’s largest sculpture is at Crazy Horse Mountain in South Dakota. The smallest sculpture, unveiled in 2001 by Japanese scientists, is a laser carving of a bull, horns and all, about the size of a human red blood cell.
— The first permanently located Illinois State Fair, in Springfield, opened Sept. 24, 1894: 50 cents for adults, 75 cents for a person on horseback, $1.25 per carriage-load of four.
Source: crazyhorse.org; highbeam.com/doc; agr.stat.il.us/ist/history; www.agr.state.il.us/isf/history.htm
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Read senior correspondent Ellen Warren’s shopping adviser column every Thursday in the At Play section and join the conversation at chicagotribune.com/ellen shopellen@tribune.com
