The Thomas Dambo Troll installation slated for Pease Park will soon emerge. After a round of community engagement and a city review last fall, the project is being staged for construction in the central Austin park.
Dambo will begin the build in late February, using recycled wood sourced from Harvest Lumber, a sustainable sawmill that repurposes Austin’s fallen trees. The wood-reclamation company milled much of the material for the troll from a water tower formerly at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
Dambo is a critically acclaimed artist and designer who describes himself as a “recycling art activist." He specializes in making wooden, hand-built sculptures from scrap wood and has installed more than 100 of them — all trolls, it seems — worldwide.
The artwork will be funded and maintained by the conservancy, which partners with the city on the operations and maintenance of Pease District Park.
