By Whitney Baxter
A decade-long mission has succeeded in honoring a well-known Iowa State College alumna and the dairy business she supported.
Earlier this summer time, three bronze cow-calf sculptures have been put in at Iowa State College’s School of Veterinary Medication, the Iowa State Truthful and in Toledo, Iowa. The sculptures are replicas of the unique one, created by Norma “Duffy” Lyon, which has been on show since 1991 atop a hill overlooking the Freeway 63 and Enterprise Freeway 30 intersection in Toledo.
Lyon graduated from Iowa State with an animal science diploma in 1951. She and her husband, Joe, have been well-known within the dairy business, particularly for his or her Jersey cows. Many additionally know Lyon because the “butter cow woman,” a reputation she gained after years of sculpting life-sized cows out of butter to show every year on the Iowa State Truthful.
The mission to switch the cow-calf sculpture in Toledo started about 10 years in the past, when the fiberglass sculpture started exhibiting indicators of pure weathering. Maynard Hogberg, professor emeritus of animal science, performed a key position within the replication course of, utilizing expertise gained from Lyon’s first piece of artwork put in at Iowa State.
Within the mid-2000’s, when plans have been underway to assemble and open the brand new ISU Dairy Farm south of campus, Lyon and her grandson sculpted out of clay what is named the “Jersey Jewell,” a life-sized Jersey cow that sits exterior the doorway of the dairy facility.
On the time, Hogberg was chair of the Division of Animal Science and had gotten to know Lyon fairly properly. Working with Lynette Pohlman, director of College Museums, they’d the Jersey Jewell forged in bronze by a New York facility to protect Lyon’s murals.
“She studied below artist Christian Petersen whereas she was a pupil at Iowa State, and we wished to have one in every of her items on campus,” Hogberg mentioned of Lyon. “Her artwork may be very exact and correct. She had an ideal eye for seeing the main points in all the things she created.”
For the replication of the cow-calf sculpture to change into a actuality, a mould of the unique sculpture wanted to be made, then three copies of that mould be forged in bronze by an organization in Kalona, Iowa. Hogberg, the Lyon household, the Metropolis of Toledo, the Iowa State Truthful Blue Ribbon Basis and different donors raised the cash wanted through the previous couple of years to make this course of attainable.
Now that the brand new sculptures have been put in, landscaping shall be accomplished and plaques placed on show that inform concerning the sculpture and its artist. A dedication of Iowa State’s sculpture befell Aug. 10.
When requested how he’d suppose Lyon would react if she may see the brand new sculptures on show, Hogberg mentioned she’d be “beaming.”
“She was a significant drive within the dairy business and giving her recognition at Iowa State and on the Iowa State Truthful with these sculptures is becoming,” he mentioned.
The place to see the sculptures:
- Exterior the Vet Med Area Companies Constructing at Iowa State’s School of Veterinary Medication, 1712 S. Riverside Dr., Ames
- On the west facet of the John Deere Agricultural Constructing on the Iowa State Fairgrounds, 3000 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines
- On the northwest nook of the Freeway 63 and Enterprise Freeway 30 intersection in Toledo, Iowa
