At Oscars
February 12, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - When the stars walk down the red carpet at the Academy Awards later this month, you
might catch a glimpse of Roger Dennis’ work.
The Western Kentucky University faculty member isn’t nominated for an Oscar. He’s not an actor or a filmmaker or even a dress designer. He’s a floral designer.
And for the second year, he will be helping decorate the red carpet and other areas at the Academy Awards on Feb. 25 in Hollywood.
“The opportunities that I have had being able to work on such events has broadened my design talents and knowledge,” said Dennis, who also has helped decorate floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade and for President Bush’s second inauguration. “When working on these projects, I learn new design techniques and mechanics that I can then pass on to my students.”
For the 79th Annual Academy Awards, Dennis will be one of 21 floral designers and 65 volunteers working with Charisma Floats/Designs of Pasadena, Calif. They’ll be using 70,000 stems of flowers, 2,500 plants and 800 running feet of planter boxes to decorate the red carpet (which is 48 feet wide and spans 2½ blocks), awards walk, press room, winners walk, theater entrance, artist entrance, VIP areas and dressing rooms.
“In the plant kingdom new and interesting varieties of flowers are being developed and used and at these events the growers want us to use the new flowers that are on the market so in turn I get to see new flowers and product that I can use with students,” Dennis said.
This year’s flowers at the Oscars will be white and green and will have a flowing garden look. Last year’s arrangements were all white and more vertical design. “Green is the hot color right now for designers,” Dennis said.
Dennis will leave for Hollywood on Feb. 19. The Academy Awards will air live on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. CST Feb 25.
The Oscars will be Dennis’ second project in California this winter. He worked with Charisma on three floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.
“Working on floats is a different experience,” he said. “It’s a rather massive type of design work.”
The Rose Parade floats must be covered with all organic materials – flowers, seeds, leaves, rice or, for the feet of a duck, orange peels. “We had to eat lots of oranges,” Dennis said.
On one float, Dennis was on his back designing a tree of 150-200 stems of orchids. “From a floral designer’s point of view, it’s awesome,” he said.
To decorate a bulldog on another float, Dennis worked from scaffolding while another designer on the floor gave directions on where to place the flowers. “It’s amazing how it all comes together,” Dennis said.
Flowers also are in the spotlight during the Rose Parade. “At the Oscars you don’t get to see the flowers on TV,” he said. “You may see some on TV but you don’t see a lot.”
Dennis, who operates a floral shop in Upton, has been teaching at WKU for six years and has seen interest in floral design classes grow.
“As a floriculturist, I teach floral design and greenhouse production courses so everything is related to flowering plants,” he said. “We’ve seen a great interest in that area especially among agriculture education students who often teach floral design in schools.”
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Roger Dennis at (270) 745-3151.
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