A nude portrait and a family tradition

8/2/2023

It’s the time of year when Des Moines becomes a three-ring circus. Yes, part of that is because the Iowa State Fair is near, but we are also in the midst of a presidential election cycle and are heading toward the 2024 caucuses. Last year I wrote about “Strange Tales from the Iowa State Fair,” and we are back for more. I love the Iowa State Fair, as it has a cultural significance only Iowans can truly appreciate. Even the weirdos who come from out of state say they will never fully understand the pride we take in it.

I mentioned last year that my dad had purchased tickets to see The Doobie Brothers perform on the grandstand, which did happen. However, it turned into a scene. The band played for two hours, and all I heard was, “What the hell is this? Michael McDonald sounds terrible and needs to get off the stage!” The comments that followed were, “No one cares about this new stuff! Play ‘LISTEN TO THE MUSIC,’ damnit!” Dad made these comments despite me repeatedly telling him that the band is not going to play its No. 1 song until the end. It’s the same reason milk is in the back of the grocery store. To Dad’s defense, Michael McDonald did sound terrible, and it turns out he had COVID. 

When I worked the Viceland documentary in 2018, we spent a lot of time in the campground area on the east side of the fairgrounds. There is a world back there that many of us don’t know about. Our crew got to spend time sipping on Busch Light and Mai Tais while the scooter traffic was getting backed up on the road. It was a weird and wild time but also quite welcoming.

Bridget Botkin of Des Moines can relate. In 2014, she attempted to help a friend in need, which turned out to really expose herself.   

“One of my friends at Iowa State was a medical illustrations major, and she needed to do a live nude drawing as her final project for one of her figure drawing classes,” Botkin said. “She was having a really hard time finding someone to volunteer, and she was complaining to me about it, and I was like, seriously?”

Botkin’s grandparents met in art school, so the idea of posing for nude art was fairly normalized for her. 

“I told her I’d do it if she couldn’t find anybody else,” she said. “She didn’t, so I posed for her, and she made this killer drawing, got a great grade on it, and then in early June of that year she asked if I’d be cool with her entering it into the Iowa State Fair Fine Art Competition.”

Botkin said she didn’t mind, so her friend entered the drawing and received an honorable mention. Botkin then forgot about the drawing, at least until she and her family attended the Iowa State Fair.  

“Every year since the dawn of time, it has been a family tradition for all of us to attend Eastside Night,” she said. “We toured the art exhibit for a couple hours; it’s always the highlight of our annual family fair outing.”

Then Botkin saw the nude drawing of herself. 

“I had completely forgotten that she submitted it for the Fine Art Competition,” she said.

She explained how the color drained from her face, she panicked, and she turned around and yelled, “EVERYONE STOP!” Then she had to explain to the group that the nude drawing was of her. She stated how she was really proud of it, but that others should view at their own risk. 

“My family, in classic Pedersen comedic styling, just busted out laughing,” she said. “Hands-on-knees laughing. They were like, ‘You of all people would forget you have a nude.’ And then they made me take a photo with it, and everyone who watched the whole thing thought it was funny. Everyone in the exhibit was laughing but, like, laughing with each other.”

Keep this story in mind if you ever decide to pose for a nude drawing. 

One last note, my documentary “Fairtown,” a short film about the parking lots of the Iowa State Fair, is available at: https://bit.ly/3OkOu1H or on the TromaNow! streaming service. It was one of the highlights of my career to make this little movie. ♦

Kristian Day is a filmmaker and writer based in Des Moines. He also hosts the syndicated Iowa Basement Tapes radio program on 98.9 FM KFMG. Instagram: @kristianday Twitter: @kristianmday