A Different Kind of Lincoln Statue

Back on July 5, I posted about an Abraham Lincoln "sculpture" made of cheese. Now here is one featuring a young Lincoln, this time carved from butter.

From this article in the Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register newspaper comes the story about the annual butter cow display at the Illinois State Fair. This year's display also includes Lincoln, yet another honor for his 200th birthday. The sculpture shows Lincoln as legend imagines him: reading while he has a cow to milk and wood to chop. The figure of Lincoln is nearly life-sized and shows him at the approximate age of 29, according to the sculptor, Sharon BuMann who lives in the state of New York. She primarily earns her living from working in bronze sculptures, but she also works on these butter carvings for state fairs in Texas, Kansas and of course in Illinois.

It took Ms. BuMann nine days to create this sculpture, working inside a display case kept at 34-36 degrees. She used up 90 pairs of rubber gloves and had to exit the case every couple of hours to warm up. Very interesting.

Why Lincoln? Because there's no one "butter" than Abe. Couldn't resist.

Beautiful Lincoln Artwork By Tony Bennett

I found an article online here from the Chicago Sun-Times which tells about a limited edition poster issued by the Ravinia Festival in honor of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. The creator of the poster is multiple Grammy winning singer Tony Bennett, who is also a notable artist. The poster is shown in this photo.

The poster will be sold at the Ravinia gift shop. Proceeds will be divided equally between the festival and a charitable organization ("Exploring The Arts") founded by Bennett and his wife, which supports arts education in the New York City schools.

The artwork was previously featured on Harold Holzer's book "Why Lincoln Matters."

I'm not an artist or art critic by any means, but I think this is beautiful and wanted to share it with my readers.

Kentucky's Lincoln Birthplace Building Temporarily Closing

Hodgenville, Kentucky is of course close to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. That community is the site of the Lincoln Birthplace Memorial Building, which houses a "symbolic" log cabin representing the structure in which Lincoln was born.

According to this article from The News-Enterprise newspaper (Hardin County, Kentucky), the memorial building is going to temporarily close on September 14, 2009 for renovations and will not re-open until Memorial Day 2010. The building is approximately 100 years old and age has taken its toll. Plaster needs replaced and the skylight and windows will be refurbished as well.

The visitors center at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park will remain open.