ABOUT

KENNETH DALE SPEETJENS

LEAD DESIGNER

The Providence Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce the collaboration with Lead Designer Kenneth Dale Speetjens for its 27^th Annual Festival of Flowers Garden Show. Dale began his career by serving in the United States Armed Forces. During his time with the military, Dale was deployed to Iraq where he served with honor. After leaving the military, he began his studies at Auburn University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Environmental Design and a Masters in both Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning while working as a Graduate Research Assistant. After graduation, Dale joined Mobile’s Bloomberg Innovation Team where his work focused on the Blight Index, a project in which Mobile has received international attention for in several publications including: Fast Company and Strongtowns.

After nearly two years with the Innovation Team, Dale taught alongside an international team of architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners at the Galapagos International Architecture Studio in the Galapagos Islands. His class spent five weeks developing a path for the islands to become more sustainable. Upon his return to the United States Dale joined the Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design, and Construction as a visiting Professor.

Dale is the Co-Founder and CEO of Shipshape Urban Farms, an agritech company focused on the design, manufacturing, and operation of hydroponic farms built inside up-cycled shipping containers. The technology developed by Dale and the Shipshape team require 90% less water and energy  verses conventional farming.

Dale is sure to bring excitement and fresh ideas to this year’s Festival of Flowers Event!

BRENT SMITH

FEATURED ARTIST

The works of contemporary painter Brent Smith can be recognized by their serene simplicity. They are created to draw the viewer through the window to an open sky or dramatic cloud formations; the distant horizon a metaphor for the future.  Influenced by classic American landscape painters like those of The Hudson River School, as well as Rothko and Jasper Johns, the works seem to float between abstract colorfield and traditional realism.  Inspired by the diverse landscape of the Gulf Coast, Brent considers himself a regional artist painting the wetlands, fields, bays, and beaches near his home of Mobile, Alabama.  Working in acrylic and mixed media the paintings are brought to life through multiple layers of thinned paint and glazes, creating a palette that is sensuous and earthy.  Although contemporary, the works retain a certain timeless quality; each seems to bare a history of its own.  Brent received his B.F.A. from Auburn University in 1993 and works as a full time artist in Mobile.