Ole Bolle and the Northwest Trolls

The Way of the Bird King – A Public Art Exhibition

This ambitious public art project is presented by Scan Design Foundation, whose mission is to support Danish-American relations with a focus on environmental sustainability.

Northwest Troll: Way of the Bird King features giant hand-built trolls by internationally acclaimed Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo. This unique project features six giant hand-built Nordic troll characters, fashioned entirely out of recycled materials.

The Ole Bolle troll is one of those six northwest trolls, with the other five in the greater Seattle area. Ole Bolle lives on the Nordic Northwest Campus in the Tualatin Valley, Oregon. He is a curious, hungry troll looking inside the cabin for treats, often described as smelling “little people” or sweet buns

“There’s something in the air, that something makes my belly rumble.
Something smells so strong, it hits me almost makes me stumble.
Could it be the little people cooking something smelly?
In the big red cookie jar, so I can put them in my belly.”

The publicly-accessible sculptures are located around the Pacific Northwest where each whimsical troll sculpture is part of an underlying environmental story. The project celebrates the human experience of art by amplifying the connections of cultural heritage between Coast Salish tribal communities and Scandinavian traditions. Thanks to our funding partners and host site partners, there is no admission fee to visit any of the trolls.

Trolls & Nordic Culture

Trolls, originating from Norse mythology and folklore, draw their magic from nature. As fierce protectors of the natural world, they are not always friends to humans, who tend to disrupt the trolls’ natural environment. [read less -] The trolls visiting the Pacific Northwest have a desire to help ‘the little people’ – us humans. Spending time exploring, troll hunting and being in nature are core elements of the NW Trolls experience.

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