Princess Kay Special Edition • Dairy Star • August 24, 2011 • Page 11
Four Grade-A Decades
Linda Christensen celebrating 40th anniversary of sculpting likenesses out of butter
Midwest Dairy Association marks occasion with events honoring this State Fair icon ST. PAUL – She’s stuck with it through four decades, 40-degree temperatures, more than 450 sculptures and 32,000 pounds of butter: At this year’s Minnesota State Fair, sculptor Linda Christensen is marking her 40th year carving likenesses out of 90-pound blocks of butter. Midwest Dairy Association is planning a number of events to celebrate this marvelous – and delicious – milestone. It’s one of the most enduring traditions of the fair, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Dairy Building each year: The newly crowned Princess Kay and 11 finalists each spend about six hours in the rotating 40-degree booth, as Linda carves their likenesses out of 90-pound blocks of butter. (Princess Kay sits in the booth on the first day of the fair; the 11 finalists get their likenesses sculpted over the remaining days.) Over the years, hundreds of
Princess Kay finalists have told Linda that as children, they had stood outside the butter sculpting booth watching her work and dreamed of becoming a princess. Linda, a North Minneapolis native, had a similar story: In the late 1960s, as a future student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she stood outside the butter booth and dreamed of becoming an artist. In 1972, degree in hand, she got a call wondering if she’d like to give it a try – and the rest is history. “I’ve worked with several more traditional media, but I like butter the best,” she says. “I really enjoy sculpting the Princess Kay finalists – it just seems so right. The princesses have been chosen for their involvement on their family farms and their passion for the dairy industry. I have enjoyed their company in the butter booth and admire the families and communities who support them.” In addition to Princess Kay
and finalists, Linda has sculpted the likenesses of everybody from David Letterman to former Minnesota First Lady Mary Pawlenty to Big Bird. (She even sculpted Conan O’Brien out of chocolate, with bacon for hair.) Now living in Oceanside, Calif., Linda is a mother of two, and keeps busy the 353 days of the year she’s not in the butter booth. She has taught calligraphy, sculpture and drawing; and had her own line of greeting cards for 20 years. After teaching herself to hand-tool leather a few years ago, she now makes belts and accessories. Midwest Dairy Association has planned several events to celebrate Linda’s anniversary, including: Celebratory toast: At 9 a.m. on the first morning of the fair, August 25, dairy industry representatives will toast Linda at the Butter Sculpting Booth at the Dairy Goodness Bar, with free butter cookies (while supplies
File photo / dairy star
Linda Christensen is marking her 40th year carving likenesses out of 90-pound blocks of butter. last) for fair-goers. Festival Foods is providing the cookies. Linda Christensen trading card: Every year, Princess Kay of the Milky Way and the other finalists are featured on trading cards. This year, for the first time, Linda will be immortalized on her
very own card. Unprecedented gathering of former Princess Kays: On September 2, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Christensen Farms/Miracle of Birth Stage, as many as dozens of former Princess Kays and finalists will gather to surprise Linda.
What do you remember about getting your likeness carved in butter? Mary Ann (Glawe) Hardy,
1971
What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? During the many hours in the butter booth Linda and I discussed art. I remember her explanation of the line of symmetry as it related to the human face. She explained that although most people believe the face is symmetrical, it is not. I was taken with Linda’s attention to detail, as only an artist would notice the fine differences between the two parts of the face. What did you do with your butterhead? My butter head returned to the freezer at the family farm and was later placed on display at the grand opening of my parent’s new dairy barn. Clearview Dairy Facility. (fall of 1971) Later we used the butter head for Christmas baking. Christmas baking never tasted better! Madge (Stapleton)
Johnson, 1972 What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? It was a learning process – it seemed to take forever. Linda was lovely. But boy, even with a snowmobile suit on it was so cold. I was amazed at the size of the crowds watching her carve. What did you do with your butterhead? I displayed it at our Cheese Store. It got lots of ooh’s and aah’s. Kathy Zeman, 1976 What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? We froze! Princess Kay always gets her head carved the first day, so on my day, the cooler was not working correctly, instead of 36 degrees it was like 30 or 32 degrees – my butt froze to that metal chair and poor Linda! Her fingers were froze; the butter was too cold... it was a blast! What did you do with your butterhead? All three of us Zeman sisters (me in the ‘70s, Liz in the ‘80s, Kateri
in the ‘90s) donated our heads to the Catholic schools we attended. Beth
1977
(Aarsvold)
Olson,
What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? I just remember that since I was crowned Princess Kay, I was the first one to sit in the cooler that year and the temperature gauge wasn’t working properly so it was much colder than it was supposed to be. It made for a very chilly day! Linda always made you feel so important and special. I really enjoyed talking with her throughout the day. Now when I go back to watch her in action – she always recognizes me standing on the outside and always motions for me to step up in the booth to have a chat with her. What did you do with your butterhead? We put it in a cooler to take it home with us (now they pack the butterheads really well for them to take home). Our cooler wasn’t quite big enough, so my nose got smashed on the ride home – we just tried to mold it back in place. My school, Peterson High School, had a welcoming home celebration for me at school and so I took my head with me to put on display. After that we cut it up – gave some of it away and did lots of baking. It was a little strange after cutting it up to have your eyeball on a butter dish! Lisa (Schaffer) Coyne,
1983
What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? It was wonderful being with Linda. It was so cold in the booth but I remember Linda making it enjoyable and the day went so quickly. Twenty-five years later, I still remembering watching the people watching me – while they ate their ice cream cones! It was an opportunity for me to people watch!” What did you do with your butterhead? I was going to use the butter from my butter head to make the food for my wedding two years later. But the butter was spoiled so it was put on display at our wedding reception instead.
Katie (Scott) Johnson,
1989
What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? I remember thinking that time went faster than I expected it to for sitting in a cooler a whole day. It was most likely because Linda made me feel so comfortable. With her genuine smile and her kind and pleasant demeanor, it was easy to be held captive there with her. She had the ability to both interact with you as a person without distracting from her artistic focus on you as a subject. She really is a remarkable and gifted artist. I also remember them bringing me ice cream treats from the dairy bar throughout the day just what you want when you’re freezing cold - an ice cream treat! Of course I ate it right up, though, as I’m never one to turn down ice cream. What did you do with your butterhead? I donated my butterhead to my church for a men’s group pancake feed mission fundraiser. People loved sticking the knife right into my head! What was left over was used for baking Christmas cookies. Beth Mesenbring-Mastre,
1990
What do you remember about sitting in the butterbooth with Linda? What I remember about sitting in the cooler was just how calming Linda was, as it really had not sunk in yet that I was Princess Kay. I remember having great conversations with Linda and to this day I can still hear her laugh. What did you do with your butterhead? My butterhead spent 15 plus years in the freezer and then I pulled it out to be displayed at the Carver County 50th Dairy Days celebration, with the intention of throwing it after that. Funny thing is that when the night was over, the butterhead was still in mint condition and neither my Mother nor me could throw it away, so we boxed it back up and re-froze it. Several years later, it was the 50th anniversary of Princess Kay and it was displayed at that celebration. However, this time it was thrown away, as they had a display light on it, which the butter really didn’t care for!