Linda Christensen

Linda Christensen (born c. 1942) is believed to be the only butter carver in the United States to work with live human models. She is known for sculpting the Minnesota State Fair's iconic butter sculptures for fifty years, ending her run after the 2021 fair. Christensen sculpted each of the top 12 finalists in the state's annual "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" competition out of 90-pound blocks of butter. Her work drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Dairy Building, where fair attendees could watch her carving. Each one took about six hours, during which the model joined Christensen in a rotating 40-degree butter booth, surrounded by viewers.

Christensen carved these sculptures out of Grade A salted butter provided by the Associated Milk Producers Inc. of New Ulm, Minnesota. By her 40th anniversary fair, it was estimated that she had carved more than 450 sculptures and 32,000 pounds of butter.

The butter sculpture event was initially started to highlight Minnesota's claim as the "butter capital of the nation", but the art of butter sculpting became a central part of the state's cultural identity. Christensen gained national recognition and sculpted public figures including David Letterman and Conan O'Brien, with O'Brien created with white chocolate bacon "hair". Another commission was to sculpt Big Bird from a 300-pound block of butter. National Geographic has twice featured her work. Because Christensen was unable to rush her carvings in just one hour, she had to turn down requests from Oprah Winfrey and Johnny Carson. Provided by Wikipedia