A world-renowned team led by garden designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf are visiting Cumbria for two special events this week, to share their insights and impressions of the county’s coastline.
Piet Oudolf will be in conversation with the filmmaker Thomas Piper and Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker, after spending time investigating Cumbria’s west coast as part of the preparations for a major programme of public arts works planned for next year.
The two free talks are taking place at Muncaster Castle tomorrow and Windermere Jetty Museum on Wednesday.
Piet, Thomas, Nicolas and producer Elena Hill were invited to the county as part of a new programme called Deep Time: Commissions for the Lake District Coast which will see them develop a design proposal for a new large-scale project set to be unveiled to the public next year.
The team are visiting a range of locations between Whitehaven and Millom, as part of their initial preparations and over a week are covering 40km of coast.
Deep Time has been commissioned by Copeland Borough Council and is funded by HM Government’s Coastal Communities Fund and Sellafield Ltd’s Social Impact Fund.
Piet has been a leading plantsman since the mid-1980s, having created his own garden in Hummelo in the Netherlands, as well as a series of high-profile projects around the world. He said: “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; it goes deeper than what you see, it reminds you of something in the genes: nature.”
Nicolas Becker is an Oscar-winning sound designer who has worked with a number of contemporary artists and created the Academy award-winning score for Sound of Metal. Award-winning filmmaker Thomas Piper previously worked with Piet on the documentary Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf and is an award-winning non-fiction filmmaker.
During this week’s talks, the team will reflect on their time in the local Cumbrian landscape using photography, sound and film.
Free tickets are still available for Piet’s talk at Muncaster Castle, 7-9pm tomorrow. They can be booked in advance from www.muncaster.co.uk/events on a first-come-first-served basis.
