[By Tina Koyama in St. Paul] Sheep, cows, butter heads. . . I’ve been to sketching
heaven!
Although we visit family in the Twin Cities every
year, we aren’t often able to make our visit coincide with the Minnesota State Fair. The last time the stars aligned for us was in 2016, and I was
lucky enough to join USk Twin Cities at the 8th Great Minnesota Fair Sketchout. This year we had more flexibility, so we were able to do it
again, and I had the time of my life sketching at the 11th fair sketchout!
She had stepped away as organizer for a few years, but Roz Stendahl was back this time as our fearless leader and chicken sketcher
extraordinaire. Founder of the fair sketchout, she pulled strings to attract
quite a bit of local media coverage (more on that later). But most of all, she
organized a fun sketch outing (two, in fact; I went on Tuesday, and a second
group met on Saturday) at what is arguably the country’s best (if not the
largest) state fair.
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| This bunny was pure white… the color splotches inadvertently transferred from the opposite page when it started raining. |
My first priority was the animals – both furred and feathered.
Animals of any kind are not easily accessible to this city girl, and since they
are one of my all-time favorite sketch subjects, I eagerly wandered from barn
to barn and sketched whatever would stay still for me (and even those that wouldn’t,
like the bantam that pecked and turned around continuously).
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| Trimming a cow before competing. |
As much fun as I was having sketching animals, I had a
specific mission: to catch the sculptor at work on a butter head. Since
1965, the same artist has been carving the likenesses of the reigning Princess
Kay of the Milky Way and her court every year. Each bust is made of 90 pounds
of butter, and the sitter gets to keep the finished bust when the fair is over.
(The pageant winners all seem to come from dairy farm families, so presumably
they have refrigerators large enough to store a 90-pound butter sculpture of
themselves. If not, I guess they eat it quickly.)
In 2016, I arrived at the butter heads exhibit just after
the sculptor had left for the day, so although I saw the busts, I was very
disappointed to miss the action. This time I arrived shortly before artist
Linda Christenson returned to work on Princess Elizabeth Golombiecki. I warmed
up by sketching the crowds admiring the completed butter heads.
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| The crowds admire the completed butter heads. |
The challenge was a minor detail that I had forgotten about
from the previous visit: The sculptor, the sitter and the surrounding completed
busts are enclosed in a rotating, refrigerated platform (kept at 40 degrees).
To sketch them, I couldn’t stand in one spot; I had to walk slowly around the
glass refrigerator trying to maintain the same view. It was my most challenging
sketch of the fair, but very much worth it to achieve my personal mission.
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| Artist Linda Christenson works on a butter sculptor as the sitter takes questions from the audience. |
About that media coverage: After the final meetup and
sketchbook throwdown, Roz led us to local TV station WCCO, where host Reg
Chapman prepped us for our three minutes of fame (see the video segment).
Twin Cities sketcher James Nutt represented Urban Sketchers well, and all of us
got to show our sketches during the live broadcast (I’m barely visible, but you
can see my sketch and purple bag toward the end).
As in previous years, Minnesota Public Radio also featured sketches (including some of mine) from the fair on its website.
We don’t get to go every year (after all the deep-fried foods
I consumed that day, my arteries are grateful that we don’t), but whenever I’m
lucky enough to attend, I’m convinced it’s the best fair in the country.
