The artist behind Vashon’s iconic troll costume

You know Oscar the Bird King. Now meet Edgar the Forest King.

Inspired by Thomas Dambo’s local recycled-wood denizen of Point Robinson, Maury Islander Matt Beursken’s costume might just be the second-most famous troll on Vashon-Maury Island.

You may have seen Edgar decked out in Santa garb during WinterFest, or walked by him on his throne this October during Halloween.

Beursken, in costume, was the star of the show Halloween night, constantly surrounded by gaggles of kids and adults: “I was 100% photographed from the moment I put it on,” Beursken said.

Edgar is a bit shorter than Oscar — standing only about 8 feet compared to the towering 20-foot-plus tall troll statue completed this summer.

But the trolls have a lot in common. They’re both artistic feats made largely out of recycled pieces. They’re both advocates of the Earth in their creator’s stories. And they both contribute to an ever-growing lexicon of Scandinavian storytelling.

Alex Bruell photo Becoming Edgar the Forest King is no simple task. Matt Beursken dons and doffs the costume in several parts: Feet, legs, torso, hands, and finally, the headpiece.

Trolling for ideas

Beursken, 59, grew up on a 10.5-acre Ohio farm near Lake Erie and has lived on Maury island since 2017. He and his husband Carl Tischler married in 2014.

Beursken has always loved art and Halloween: When he worked in the auto insurance industry, he’d create elaborate pieces that won the company’s costume year after year, including Poseidon, Flo from Progressive Insurance TV commercials, and a centaur.

He made costumes for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter, put together his own Santa costume, and even created a giant woman costume for the Strawberry Festival.

His experience running and managing flower shops while living in Ohio taught him to be creative on a budget, and Beursken uses what’s available — such as making an armored Poseidon suit out of fake leather and fabric paint.

Beursken said he’s blessed with the ability to mentally visualize a potential costume from all angles, and has a fixation with getting all the details just right.

Alex Bruell photo Matt Beursken sees through the opening of Edgar’s mouth, giving him vision of his surroundings while keeping his face mostly obscured from view.

His work on Edgar the Forest King began this August.

Hundreds of cut-up paint-stirring sticks hot glued to the framework create the flexible wooded texture and look of the costume, gently clicking and clacking as he moves.

Edgar’s headpiece was remade from a 15-foot tall costume of Beursekn himself from an island puppet show — artist Adam Ende helped make the paper mache framework of that head.

“Everything gets reused, so that became the head for the troll,” Beursken said. “An old coat became the top part, an old pair of overalls became the bottom. … Many things have been disassembled and reused in later costumes or projects.”

Leftover scrap wood formed the face and nose of the headpiece; plastic gems and other adornments created his crown. Even the eyes seem to cry thanks to plastic blue sapphires running down Edgar’s cheeks.

“I really did study the eyes of The Bird King, because Thomas Dambo does such a wonderful job on the eyes, giving them character,” he said.

Becoming Edgar

Simply suiting up into Edgar takes several minutes and the help of an assistant — usually, Beursken’s husband Carl.

Outside his Maury Island home, Beursken gave The Beachcomber a demonstration.

He starts with the feet — giant wooden things built around a pair of unassuming boots, which are obscured by the trouser part of the costume — and hiking on the paint-stirrer-covered bib overalls.

A fall early on while designing the costume led Beursken to build balls into both feet, giving him a little more mobility and ability to slide slightly while walking.

“It’s not enough to roll, but it makes it a little easier, because you’re heavy,” he said.

Edgar the Forest King’s cheeks are dappled with plastic gems resembling tears. Alex Bruell photo

His bottom half done, Beursken dons the paint-stirrer coat that makes up Edgar’s upper body.

Next, his assistant gives him a hand — two, actually. Edgar’s big paper-mache hands are held by Beursken using sticks.

Finally, with an assistant’s help, Beursken dons Edgar’s head. The headpiece uses coarse rope from two lobster traps, unwound and glued on to make the beard.

Plastic sapphires make up a line of tears running from Edgar’s eyes, and the troll’s crown is a smorgasbord of gems, moss and a metallic moose.

Beursken peeks through Edgar’s mouth while the costume is on, wearing a black ski mask to keep his head hidden.

“Everything is halfway to being really realistic looking, and a really cool costume,” Beursken said. “But the other half is like: Can I wear it? Is it functional? Is it really reasonable?”

Beursken can walk and pose in the costume but uses a raised wicker chair throne for special appearances like Halloween for when he needs to take a break.

The final product is colorful, richly textured and full of bits and baubles that raise questions about Edgar and his life. Even for an expert costume maker, it’s a work of art.

“I was thrilled with it,” Beursken said.

As for Edgar’s story, Beursken cautions that Edgar isn’t officially part of Dambo’s canon in “The Way of the Bird King.” But Beursken can imagine how Edgar might fit into the story.

In Dambo’s telling, Oscar admonishes you and me, the humans looking up at him, to be better stewards of the Earth and their environment.

“From my point of view, Edgar, I consider him sort of a long-lost brother to Oscar,” Beursken said. “He supports everything Thomas Dambo says about caring for people, the planet (and) recycling.”

Alex Bruell photo Matt Beursken dons the paint-stirrer cloak that makes the upper half of his troll costume.

Folklore, old and new

Beursken has seen trolls by Dambo all over the country, helped with work at The Bird King and got to share his own costume work with the Danish recycle artist.

“I admire (Dambo) a lot,” Beursken said. “He was wonderful to have here on the island.”

Dambo’s projects have resonated with Pacific Northwesterners, who have visited trolls in “Way of The Bird King” across Portland, Seattle, Issaquah, Vashon and other locations.

“I am really honored that so many people have gathered around the project to help create it, and also that so many people went to see it,” Dambo said in an email. “It’s really overwhelming but also shows the story about the importance of taking care of our trash: We can create something that can catch the attention and entertain hundreds of thousands of people just with our own hands and what is in our trash can.”

Dambo called Beursken’s troll “beautiful.”

“It’s fantastic for me to see how other people get inspired by what I do. My art is about teaching people that we have great value in our trash, and I love when other people do that, making it into school programs or creating the Halloween costumes, for example.”

Alex Bruell photo Fully dressed, Edgar the Forest King is an imposing and highly detailed character.

Ann-Charlotte (Lotta) Gavel Adams, Emerita Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, has explored how trolls have served as figures of parable across Scandinavia — conflated with the devil during the Middle Ages, later cast as nature beings, then in the 19th century becoming figures in children’s literature.

In the modern day, Gavel Adams said, they are returning to literature and films for grown-ups — always carrying messages along the way.

Gavel Adams has known Dambo for about four years, and along with the Danish Consul in Seattle was a key player in bringing Dambo and his wife Alexa to Vashon and Maury several years ago, ultimately facilitating Oscar’s arrival on the island. Beursken is a dear friend of hers, someone who is “super creative (with) a heart of gold,” she said.

Gavel Adams teaches courses on Nordic literature and culture and has long been a summer resident of Vashon Island.

Everyone on Vashon seems “charmed” by Oscar, Gavel Adams said, though when she initially proposed the idea, many scoffed at the idea. Proposals had been raised for commercial tie-ins for Oscar — which Thomas categorically rejected, Gavel Adams said: “He’s very, very strong about that. … Non-profits can use it, but nothing commercial.”

But Beursken’s troll took artistic inspiration without a money-making element.

“I think Matt felt related to the troll, in some way,” Gavel Adams said. “So he came up with this. There is something relatable to Dambo’s troll, something that makes us say, ‘We are one of the same. We are the same beings.’”