Tending to live cows at the Iowa State Fair didn’t come naturally to Sarah Pratt – but carving cows out of butter did.
At 14 years old, Pratt wanted to be a farm girl, so she convinced her friend’s parents to bring her along to the dairy show.
“Basically, I failed miserably,” she said. “I made a big mess in the barn, got kicked out of the barn, basically, and sent to the butter cooler.”
Pratt bundled up in the 42-degree cooler and started assisting the lead sculptor at the time, Norma "Duffy” Lyon.
“She'd play classical music. We would chat while we worked. I just really also enjoyed art and process and learning,” she said.
After years of assisting Lyon, Pratt became the lead sculptor in 2006. Now, among Pratt’s apprentices are her twin daughters, Hannah and Grace Pratt. Both are seniors at the University of Northern Iowa.
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The first solo butter creation Hannah Pratt carved was a bunny rabbit, which sat at the feet of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sculpture.
“I got to walk in front of the butter cooler and see something of my own creation,” she said.
Grace Pratt is even studying studio art, with an emphasis in sculpture.
“I loved working in 3D because I felt like I could do anything with that. And so I think going into my freshman year of high school, I took a ceramics class and started doing sculpture and art on my own time, and really fell in love with it,” she said. “And so butter sculpting is what got me started on the hill, but then I started taking it into my own hands.”
This year, younger brother Dean Pratt is involved for the first time, learning from his mom and older sisters as they carve while singing along to show tunes in the butter cooler.
“I'm just tickled that we get to do it together,” Sarah Pratt said.
This year they have carved a Jersey cow, plus characters from Toy Story to celebrate the movie’s 30-year anniversary. The butter sculptures will be on display at the Iowa State Fair through Aug. 17.
