By popular request, she'll do 'Angry Birds' on Saturday
Sarah Kaufmann proudly calls herself The Cheese Lady. She's a graphic artist who went to work for cheese promoters in Wisconsin, and was helping others carve cheese when she realized she could do it herself.
"I didn't think it up," she says. "It found me." And now it's a full-time, nationwide job.
Before the NY State Fair, Sarah was at Indiana's fair. She'll leave here for part of this week for Maryland, then come back for our close. And she's booked right through the fall for other carving appearances.
Her art is recognizeable: on Monday she was doing a portrait of a cow (it's Dairy Day!), as well as a Big Bird and Sesame St. Friends scene. Sarah's themes this year revolve around famous movie stars that love cheese.
Her admirers love her work, and what's leftover. As she sculpts she interacts with the Dairy Building crowds, singing along with the musician on the stage next to her, and handing out cheese samples, pieces that she's carving away from the cheddar block that becomes her artwork.
She does three or more pieces a day, and they're all displayed in the cheese case at the back of the Dairy Building (behind the Butter Sculpture) until the Fair's end.
Sarah says she's getting lots of requests this year for Angry Birds, and will do them on Saturday, even though she works in yellow and white, not the green, red and blue that are their trademarks.
Her dream sculpture? "The Statue of Liberty, in blue cheese, 'cause then she could have the copper patina."
Sarah Kaufmann will be carving at the New York State Fair, in the Dairy Building...again on Saturday and Sunday.
