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Krissy Navrat
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The Wild Center's summer exhibit wraps this fall, but one giant sculpture has put down permanent roots in Tupper Lake.

A summer of giants

The Wild Center's summer has been dominated by an unlikely cast of characters: six giant troll sculptures, hidden along the Center's outdoor trails since June, drawing visitors deeper into the Adirondack woods than a typical museum visit ever could. TROLLS: Save the Humans has become one of the season's biggest draws in Tupper Lake, and it's not slowing down. The exhibit runs through October 31, timed to close out The Wild Center's 20th anniversary celebration. And this fall, The Wild Center is making sure the story doesn't end there, with a seventh troll now installed as a permanent addition to the trail system.

A family posing with a troll at The Wild Center.

The artist behind the Trolls

The sculptures are the creation of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, whose work combines large-scale installations with recycled materials and storytelling. Raised in Odense, Denmark, Dambo was drawn to creative projects from an early age and later studied Interaction Design. His artistic background also includes hip-hop and street art, influences that helped shape his approach to working in public spaces.

Since beginning his troll project in 2014, Dambo has placed his larger-than-life wooden sculptures in locations across the globe. His work has taken him from the Morton Arboretum near Chicago to the coast of Western Australia, with each installation designed specifically for its surroundings. The trolls aren't simply oversized sculptures; they're characters with names and stories that encourage people to explore, engage with their surroundings, and think differently about their relationship with the natural world.

A troll laying in the grass at The Wild Center.

Why the exhibit works

That mix of craft and message is exactly what's made The Wild Center exhibit, and all his exhibits, resonate. The six trolls scattered through the Center's trail system aren't just photo opportunities. They're built entirely from reclaimed materials, a nod to Dambo's broader mission of turning waste into wonder and getting people to rethink their relationship with the environment. The sculptures are designed to pull visitors further into the woods, encouraging the kind of slow, curious exploration that fits the Adirondacks naturally. It's a self-guided, family-friendly experience, and it's turned a walk in the woods into a small adventure with a story, and a message, attached.

A troll at The Wild Center.

A permanent addition

The seventh troll changes what's next for The Wild Center. Once the current exhibit closes at the end of October, the six original sculptures will eventually be dismantled or relocated, as is typical with Dambo's touring installations. But the new addition, Patrick Sapling, means Tupper Lake gets to keep a piece of Thomas Dambo's art in the region for good, where visitors and locals alike can return to again and again, a constant reminder of the importance of his message and how deeply it resonates with The Wild Center's own mission.

Patrick Sapling is named in tribute to Patrick Dougherty, the American sculptor who has spent more than three decades creating monumental works from living tree saplings. Last fall, Dambo met Dougherty in North Carolina the day before visiting The Wild Center, home to one of Dougherty's only remaining permanent installations, Hopscotch. The encounter inspired the name and story behind Patrick Sapling, creating a connection between Dambo's new work and a piece of art that has long been part of The Wild Center's landscape.

That connection carries through to Patrick's story. The troll kneels among the Adirondack rocks, holding a young tree toward the light it will grow toward, representing the relationship between generations and the care required to nurture something new and leave something meaningful behind. Nearly 100 boulders surround Patrick, grounding the sculpture in its Adirondack setting and adding to the sense that he has always belonged there. Visitors can find Patrick just off the Fen Trail, the same trail used for Raquette River Roll, on a spur trail that leads down toward the Raquette River and the launch area for guided canoe trips. An original poem written by Dambo for Patrick Sapling is also available for visitors to read at the sculpture site.

It's a fitting way to mark The Wild Center's 20th year: an exhibit that captured national attention, and a permanent piece of it that stays behind.

The new Patrick Sappling troll.