Burlington County just got a new, unusual resident — a 20-foot troll named “Big Rusty.”
The troll, made entirely from trash and recycled materials, is a sculpture created by renowned, Denmark-based sustainable art creator Thomas Dambo and his team of about 12 people.
Last week, Dambo’s team and local volunteers completed the sculpture, located off Route 38 in Hainesport Township near South Branch Rancocas Creek.
The sustainable sculpture sits in front of the same abandoned pottery factory that it was born from, Dambo said.
Thousands of different recycled remnants from the building, including 100-square-meters of rusty metal roofing, a plywood attic, concrete walls and old pallets were used to bring Big Rusty to life, he said.
New Jersey’s new troll is part of Dambo’s “Way of the Bird King” sculpture series, where he and his team of about 20 builders and local volunteers will install ten different trolls in locations across the state.
“I hope that this will leave a meaningful (impact) that will encourage people to come out and hike a little bit around in nature and find some beautiful art and remember that together we can think big and make things happen with our trash,” Dambo said while traveling in an RV on his was to his next destination — Michigan.
The “Way of the Bird King” series has a story that starts in South Jersey with Big Rusty, as its the first of the ten trolls that will be installed by Dambo and his volunteers in only 100 days.
All the trolls have their own individual stories that connect to a bigger message rooted in fostering a greater sense of environmental responsibility within people, Dambo said.
In the tale behind the project, a main character troll travels through different islands, or towns around the country, setting out to figure out why the waterways have been murky, the artist said.
The troll first lands in Hainesport where it encounters a big monster troll named Big Rusty, who grows larger with the more trash it eats.
The main character then asks, how large will Big Rusty grow, Rambo said.
“It’ll continue growing forever because there’s so much trash,” he said.
After the interaction, the troll runs off into the forest until it encounters the next troll monster in Vermont, the story goes.
Though this is the first time the Copenhagen-based artist has started an art installation series in the U.S., he has created over 100 other troll sculptures around the world.
“I use my sculptures to draw people out to go and explore the local area where they are and to find something a little bit adventurous there,” Dambo said.
The coordinates for Big Rusty’s location are (39.9762330,-74.8264650), according to officials.
Hainesport Township, which recommended the location for the project because the pottery factory that was previously there had been abandoned for several years, plans to turn the property into a park, according to Dambo.
The township recently gated the location off but will reopen it on July 17, once they clean the area up, a spokesperson for the “Way of the Bird King” series said.
“There’s a river behind the factory and some nice graffiti and stuff on the factory and I think it’s a good little, Sunday afternoon adventure for people,” Dambo said.
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