What’s more Minnesotan than having your likeness sculpted in butter?
Since 2020, Gerry Kulzer has created the butter sculptures of the Minnesota State Fair dairy princesses that Minnesotans are so familiar with. Hundreds of people line up to watch him create his masterpieces live during the fair.
Now, although he probably will never see it, Pope Leo XIV’s likeness has been enshrined in the dairy staple. Kulzer spent the first day of the National Catholic Educational Association Convention, which was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center April 7-9, sculpting a bust of the pontiff live among the event’s exhibitors.
“I get some pretty random commission requests, but when the National Catholic Educational Association contacted me about doing a live butter sculpture during their conference this year, I was interested,” Kulzer said. “After working out the logistics of keeping the butter cool, they decided they wanted a bust of Pope Leo and another butter block carved into their logo.”
Participants from Minnesota were eager to see the sculpting in real time.
“It was awesome to have the artist known for carving the butter sculptures at the State Fair at our conference,” said Sara Michaelson, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Saint Cloud. “Who knew we needed a butter sculpture of Pope Leo?”
Aside from being able to bring a very Minnesota feel to this year’s conference, Kulzer, who is a teacher himself, was happy to spend time with Catholic educators.
“As a former Catholic school teacher, Catholic education is close to my heart,” he said. “I loved being able to share artwork and my faith with my students at Holy Trinity in Winsted. It was similar at the conference. It was so fun to be surrounded by fellow educators who also were Catholic.”
Kulzer has been an art and industrial tech teacher for more than 30 years and currently teaches 7-12 grade art classes at Eden Valley-Watkins schools. He fell in love with ceramics while attending the University of Minnesota Duluth, so he says, he’s been sculpting clay even longer than he’s been teaching.
He was blessed to be able to do an internship with master potter Robert Eckels at Eckels Pottery in Bayfield, Wisconsin.
“That experience gave me different clay skills that I could use in sculpting and bring back to my classroom.”
Kulzer, who is a member of St. Philip Church in Litchfield, part of the Shepherd of Souls Faith Community in the Diocese of New Ulm, said he appreciates that his students are not afraid to talk about their faith in class, even in a public school.
“Assumption Church [in Eden Valley] has daily Mass at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays and I always see students at Mass,” he said. “I counted 16 students one Friday morning!”
As a fellow sculptor and a fair-goer, Kulzer watched Linda Christensen carve Princess Kay busts at the Minnesota State Fair in the 90s. He contacted Midwest Dairy, hoping they would consider him to replace her when she retired.
“I’m a ‘people watcher’ and love observing faces,” he explained. “Everyone has a different look and it’s fun to try capturing that look in clay — or butter.”
In 2018, he was offered the opportunity to audition for the position, one of five potential replacements.
“I was given a 90-pound block of butter and some pictures of one of the Midwest Dairy princesses,” he remembers. “Apparently, they liked the portrait I carved because they called me back the next year to ‘apprentice’ under Linda. She and I worked on a bust together and when it was finished the sculpture looked like one person had done it, not two.”
He was offered the job and in 2020 the plan was to work with Christensen doing a couple of the princesses’ likenesses while she did the others. But then came the COVID pandemic and she couldn’t get to Minnesota from her home in California.
“I had to do them all,” he said. “A trial by fire in a way. But the only audience I had while I worked was the family of the Princess Kay Finalist, so at least there wasn’t the pressure of thousands of people watching.”
Kulzer said he hopes people know that one of the reasons they do the butter sculpting at the fair is to promote the work of dairy farmers in Minnesota.
“I hope that my work in butter brings recognition to the hard work that farmers do to produce such yummy foods like butter, cheese and ice cream,” he said. “I grew up on a farm and know that central Minnesota is filled with dairy farms. I always feel honored to be able to do a little something to bring more recognition to the work they do.”
And he was happy to bring his skills to the NCEA Convention.
“I could share a little of my faith with participants while I worked and was able to attend Mass both days I was there. It was an incredible experience to be with so many like-minded people.”
To read more about the NCEA conference, click here.
Pictured above, Gerry Kulzer works on the bust of Pope Leo during the National Catholic Educational Association Convention in Minneapolis April 7. (Dianne Towalski / The Central Minnesota Catholic)