Have you heard, kids?! Danish artist Thomas Dambo revealed his newest troll creation in Pease Park in Austin, Texas, this May, and it’s fabulous! Pease Park underwent a $15 million renovation near Kingsbury Commons starting in 2021, so it only made sense that Dambo included his magical creature to oversee the beautifully created beloved capitol city park.
Malin’s Fountain is tucked in toward the backend of the park, right off the main trails. You can’t miss her, since she is 18 feet tall. That’s right. Malin is a female troll holding a big, beautiful bowl to remind Austinites and all who come to visit that water is a finite resource and that we should share it with our neighbors and animal friends who live on Planet Earth.
All Thomas Dambo trolls are made mostly from recycled and reused materials. The majority of the wood used to build the Pease Park troll was sourced from Harvest Lumber, a sawmill dedicated to giving new life to Austin’s fallen trees.
Specifically, Harvest Lumber milled the cladding and shake boards used to build the troll from a water tank that resided at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
Dambo shared this poem written as an ode to Malin herself on his site:
Sometimes, the summer times are dry
Sometimes, the sky will cry
Sometimes, the fountains full of rain
Sometimes, an empty drain
Sometimes are good for summer birds
Sometimes are cursed with thirst
So it always makes a difference when
You fill the fountain up again
So, remember, boys and girls, although Malin’s Fountain isn’t a traditional fountain with an underground connection or direct water source, it symbolizes the community’s strength and unity.