After a successful cheese carving event this past spring, OnMilwaukee.com is once again "Cutting the Cheese for Charity," this time in a partnership with the Wisconsin State Fair.

Every day at the fair, a Milwaukee artist sculpts cheese live in the Ag Oasis Tent from 11 a.m. until, roughly, 3 p.m.

"The carvings look awesome and are drawing quite a bit of attention," says Eliza Ulness, Ag Oasis coordinator.

Sculptures are carved from 40-pound blocks of medium cheddar cheese and artists are able to use whatever tools they need to create their cheesy masterpieces. The only stipulation is the subject matter must be State Fair-related, hence a rooster, ear of corn, barn, sheep and, of course, cream puff are already on display.

Riverwest's Jessica Laub is one of the artists "cutting the cheese" at the State Fair.

"I enjoy the meditative quality of being immersed in carving for up to six hours in a row. It sucks you in. You become obsessed with it," says Laub, 35, whose usual artistic medium is painting and pottery.

Thousands of fair goers have already stopped by the booth to observe live cheese carving and to donate a few dollars to America's Second Harvest food pantry. The first sculpture was auctioned off at the Governor’s Sweepstakes cheese and butter auction, raising $650 for the Dairy Promotion Board Scholarship.

This is the first time the Wisconsin State Fair features live, daily cheese carving, however, a few years back, a local artist carved a large-scale cheese sculpture of Alice in Dairyland.

"It is very exciting to see the form emerge from imagination to reality," says Laub. "The cheese is a pleasure to carve."