The Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn has unveiled Fjord Ferryman, a 22-foot-tall wooden troll created by world-renowned Danish artist Thomas Dambo, celebrating Danish migration and sustainability. “My hope is to make something that makes people smile,” Dambo said. Dambo shared his love for building and working with wood.”But what I love the most is to build. So it was so nice to come here and stand in the sun yesterday on the prairie and just help build something and good, because there’s nothing nicer than wood,” he said. The troll is constructed from what Dambo calls “garbage wood,” materials that would typically end up in the trash. “For me, the message is that our world is drowning in trash and our world is running out of resources, and the solution is just so screamingly obvious. Don’t turn our resources into trash we are drowning in,” Dambo said. The sculpture represents the migration of Danes to the Midwestern prairies in the late 1880s. “So that’s why my sculpture here is sailing in a big wooden boat across the prairie and ferrying the humans across,” Dambo said. Fjord Ferryman is one of 176 sculptures Dambo has created in his Denmark studio and installed around the world. Erik Andersen, executive director of the Museum of Danish America, expressed his enthusiasm for the new addition.”If you don’t know about trolls, what an unbelievable discovery. So, we’re incredibly fortunate to have it. And our timing on it was. I mean, this is unbelievable,” Andersen said. The half-million-dollar project was completed in just six weeks. True to Dambo’s style, visitors will need to search for the troll, adding an element of adventure to the experience. “I always hide my sculptures or try, I always hide them because then people have to go and find them,” Dambo said. “And that gives people these experiences that are much, much bigger than the actual experience of looking at the sculpture.”

ELK HORN, Iowa —

The Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn has unveiled Fjord Ferryman, a 22-foot-tall wooden troll created by world-renowned Danish artist Thomas Dambo, celebrating Danish migration and sustainability.

“My hope is to make something that makes people smile,” Dambo said.

Dambo shared his love for building and working with wood.

“But what I love the most is to build. So it was so nice to come here and stand in the sun yesterday on the prairie and just help build something and good, because there’s nothing nicer than wood,” he said.

The troll is constructed from what Dambo calls “garbage wood,” materials that would typically end up in the trash.

“For me, the message is that our world is drowning in trash and our world is running out of resources, and the solution is just so screamingly obvious. Don’t turn our resources into trash we are drowning in,” Dambo said.

The sculpture represents the migration of Danes to the Midwestern prairies in the late 1880s.

“So that’s why my sculpture here is sailing in a big wooden boat across the prairie and ferrying the humans across,” Dambo said.

Fjord Ferryman is one of 176 sculptures Dambo has created in his Denmark studio and installed around the world.

Erik Andersen, executive director of the Museum of Danish America, expressed his enthusiasm for the new addition.

“If you don’t know about trolls, what an unbelievable discovery. So, we’re incredibly fortunate to have it. And our timing on it was. I mean, this is unbelievable,” Andersen said.

The half-million-dollar project was completed in just six weeks. True to Dambo’s style, visitors will need to search for the troll, adding an element of adventure to the experience.

“I always hide my sculptures or try, I always hide them because then people have to go and find them,” Dambo said. “And that gives people these experiences that are much, much bigger than the actual experience of looking at the sculpture.”