Butter fingers: Couple crafts 1,000-pound sculpture that will melt your heart

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. − Jim Victor's and Marie Pelton's old farmhouse is nestled at the bottom of a hill about 15 minutes outside Philadelphia, surrounded by new, upscale townhomes and a park across the winding street.

It's what one might expect when visiting a couple of artists. Their works are all over the house: busts, paintings and large works using reclaimed wood and found objects. And in the yard, there's a small menagerie of armatures, wireframes that form the base of sculptures: A manatee, a cow, an elephant, even a bear riding a motorcycle. Some of them still have traces of butter left on them.

Yes, butter.

Victor and Pelton are two of the country's best-known, and most frequently commissioned, food sculptors. Their work has been part of state fairs from California to Florida, and county fairs from Texas to Wyoming. They've worked with corporate clients including Chipotle, Subway, Hersey's and Mars.

And through Saturday, their massive, 1,000-pound butter sculpture of a cow will be one of the main attractions at the Pennsylvania Farm Show − enough butter to make 96,000 pancakes, according to the American Dairy Association North East.

"It's very unique what we do," Pelton said. The couple said having a sense of whimsy, of joy, is part of the creative process. But so are trial, and error, messiness, patience, preparation and a whole lot of physical labor.

From Mickey Rooney to a close call with chocolate to butter

Victor and Pelton both studied at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1968 and 2003, respectively. Victor loves working with found objects, reclaimed wood and clay; Pelton is also a painter who loves animals (especially horses) and portraiture.

So how did they both become two of the country's most sought-after food sculptors?

It started with Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller, who in 1980 were starring in Broadway's "Sugar Babies." Victor was creating celebrity and political likenesses for newspapers and magazines − he still has a bust of Henry Kissinger, complete with his trademark eyeglasses, on a windowsill of their home − when a friend approached and asked whether he'd like to work on busts of the two stars for the show's 1,000th performance.

The catch: He had to sculpt them using chocolate.

It almost ended in disaster when, during a press event, Miller accidentally knocked over one of the busts, nearly destroying it. Victor chuckled at the memory of how the day, and the sculpture, were saved by a quick-thinking chocolatier with a tube of chocolate and Victor's Swiss Army knife.

"(Miller) was horrified," he remembered. "The press was horrified."

He created his first Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture (depicting World War II butter rations) in 1995, and he's done it every year since 2003. Pelton joined him in 2008.

"We are absolutely amazed by Jim and Marie's enduring partnership with the American Dairy Association North East," said John Chrisman, the organization's CEO. "Their one-of-a-kind butter sculptures not only captivate and delight audiences but also honor the incredible dedication of our dairy farmers."

The couple's "boundless creativity and exquisite craftsmanship" help support the group's mission to celebrate the dairy industry's products, traditions and innovations, Chrisman said. "Watching their artistry turn a vision into a stunning masterpiece is truly impressive and a shining example of the passion driving our community forward."

NFL draft picks, carolers and bacon in a bar

Victor, a Central Pennsylvania native, and Pelton, a native of the Philippines who came to the U.S. as a child in the 1970s, have lived in Conshohocken, a once-sleepy but now bustling suburb of Philadelphia, since the 1990s. They've worked together on projects; Pelton creates visualizations of the client's themes and ideas.

One of Victor's favorite projects was a butter sculpture of cows cheering for the Red Sox for a Dr. Seuss "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?"-themed event. They've created busts of NFL draft picks made of Subway ingredients for the sandwich chain and carolers from Chipotle ingredients for Christmas windows at one of the fast-casual chain's New York City locations.

A contest winner, Victor recalled, won the opportunity to have his likeness sculpted from bacon. Pelton and Victor got to work, cooking strips of the smoky meat in various ways to achieve the different colors and consistencies needed. The winner, Victor learned, later put the sculpture behind a curtain in his bar and charged people $1 to see it − at least, for as long as it lasted.

Working with food, Pelton said, is challenging: Butter and chocolate need to be sculpted in cooled rooms; bacon grease makes the meat hard to handle; sandwich and burrito ingredients, especially for companies who emphasize freshness, need to be swapped out constantly.

Artisans are 'like Buddhist monks'

The temporary nature of their work isn't lost on Pelton and Victor, who take a very Zen view of the way their hours and hours of work can only be enjoyed for a short time.

"We're like Buddhist monks," Victor said. "It feels more like a performance to us."

The Buddhist metaphor isn't far off: According to the American Dairy Association North East, sculpting butter is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Yak butter and dye have been used to create symbols for New Year's and other religious celebrations.

The materials used for sculptures don't go to waste, Victor and Pelton said.

Organic waste can be processed by an anaerobic digester and turned into electricity or fertilizer for farmers to use. The couple have given butter to colleges that process kitchen oil into energy and biofuel.

Once the Pennsylvania Farm Show ends, its 1,000-pound sculpture will be broken down and the butter will be taken to a farm in the center of the state and recycled through a methane digester, converting it to enough energy to power a home for three days.

As for the armature of the cow, well, that might end up in Victor's and Pelton's yard, joining the rest of the menagerie.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Butter fingers: 1,000-pound sculpture at farm show is melting hearts