HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — This winter Windmill Island Gardens and Hope College will celebrate Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf with a special viewing of the film “Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, at the Knickerbocker Theatre in Holland.
Tickets cost $6 for Windmill Island Garden members and $7 for non-members, and can be purchased at Hope College Events and Conferences Office, in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center, 100 E. 8th St., or online at hope.edu/tickets. The ticket office is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.weekdays; call (616) 395-7890 for details.
Proceeds support programs and events at Windmill Island Gardens, windmillisland.org.
The documentary film explores his creative process and theories including the ecological impacts of his designs.
“For me, garden design isn’t just about plants, it is about emotion, atmosphere, a sense of contemplation. You try to move people with what you do. You look at this, and it goes deeper than what you see. It reminds you on something in the genes—nature, or the longing for nature,” says Oudolf.
Born in the Netherlands in 1944, Oudolf has become known worldwide for his radical ideas and planting design. His recent projects include The High Line (New York City), Lurie Garden (Millennium Park, Chicago) and a new garden underway at Belle Island in Detroit. He was awarded the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation Award in 2013 and earned an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects in Planting Design (2012).
Oudolf’s natural style provides a modern contrast to traditional Dutch gardens featuring formal geometric designs and efficient use of space. Community members are welcome to join Windmill Island Gardens staff for our monthly Koffie Kletz at 10 a.m. on Jan. 18, 2020, to learn how his work has inspired the updated design of the park’s green space. The presentation will focus on Oudolf, the new era of Dutch horticultural design, and how staff seek to implement these new trends.
