Norma "Duffy" Lyon (A.K.A. The Buttercow Lady)

Norma "Duffy" Lyon (A.K.A. The Buttercow Lady)

Buttercow

Wood, Chicken Wire, Lard, and Butter

Life size cow 6-8' 600lbs

2005

Norma Lyon was born in 1929 and had been drawing horses since she was 8. She began sculpting when she was studying at Iowa State University. She began sculpting Buttercows in 1959 to take over the job for Frank Dud. When she did her 1st cow, she was pregnant with her seventh child. She made two other Buttercows when she was recovering from giving birth to her eighth or ninth child. It wasn't her idea to make a cow out of butter; the tradition was first started in 1910 by a man named Mr. Daniels. Lyon saw a picture in an ad for the Iowa State Fair and claimed she could do better. That's where her new career and nickname  "The Buttercow Lady" originated from. Lyon sculpted more than just cows, she also did a bust of Obama, Elvis, a Green Eggs and Ham exhibit, and even The Last Supper. She unfortunately had to retire in 2005 due to health issues but her assistant Sarah Pratt took over and is now the new Buttercow sculptor. When Norma isn't at work sculpting, she passes the time by taking care of her own dairy cows on her farm with her husband.

Artist's statement:  Her favorite artistic medium is now butter. She drew farm animals since she was little and now she sculpts them through butter. She raises cows herself as another pastime. Before sculpting, she would take multiple pictures of the breed of cow she wanted to create and then would make many sketches before actually modeling them with the wood and wire frame. She loves what she does and even quoted "I live for it all year long!"

Buttercow-

This sculpture of a Buttercow is the actual size of a real cow. It weighs 600 lbs and is about 6ft tall. The cow is a wooden model with a wire mesh to form the basic shapes to build on. The rest is made from lard and butter. In order to sculpt this cow, the butter has to be at the right temperature of 30-40 degrees so that the butter is a soft cream. They sculpt in large refrigerated rooms or display cases so that everything stays in place and doesn't melt off. Before even getting to the muscle, horns, and hoof details, Lyon took many photographs of the breed of cow she was going to sculpt. She would make numerous sketches and then she would start sculpting the detail of the cow. The entire process took only two days. Though it may sometimes take up to a week depending on how the artist works.

This piece connects with our theme because, since it is a dairy product, it is edible and a type of food that was handmade. Why we chose this piece is because most artists would sculpt with clay and it amazes me that somebody sculpted with butter. It's just crazy and so impressive what artists come up with and what they are able to do. Who would have thought you could use butter as a sculpting medium?