This Saturday is Erin’s Challenge of Travel blog hop reveal. Its a creative challenge to create a themed piece – in this case the country of your choice. Germany is mine. Not exotic, not a place that is known for a different design aesthetic – like  Japan or Aboriginal Austaralia. German is a large part of my heritage (along with Irish, Welsh and Scottish. Full Celt!) yet I have never been there. It is the British Celtic lore that inspired and informs my artwork. So in reading and researching Germany – I wanted to share some of my finds. 

Part I – Thinkers, musicians, architects. 

The Brothers Grimm – linguists and cultural ressearchers, most well known for their collections of folklore. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe –artist, writer, and politician.

Richard Wagner – composer and conductor. Retold Germanic myths in “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (The Ring of the Nibelung)    

(Brunhilde the Valkyrie – A. Rackam 1910)

Martin Luther – theologian and religious reformer

Johann Sebastian Bach & Ludwig van Beethoven – Classical composers extraordinairre

Albert Einstein – theoretical physicist, developed Law of Relativity. 

Walter Gropius – pioneering architect, founder of the Bauhaus School. 

Mies Vander Rohe – Pioneering architect, “master of Modern Architecture. 

( I apologize for not linking them all – but any can be found readily in Wiki for more info)

The stamps as illustrations was a happy accident – and so much more. I kept finding stamp images which were so apropos at documenting and honoring German figures from history and culture. So I searched out ALL stamp images. But what could be more perfect as a souvenir of travel? As  a child I took over my Dad’s stamp collection. His mom, my Grandmom always requested postcards when we traveled, especially our first school trips to Europe as teenagers. I myself have made it a quest to buy stamps on Carribean islands, the Owl post in Hogsmeade… not for use but to collage. I am an inveterate collector of paper ephemera, ticket stubs, wrappers and such that I collage into my travel journals. So let this post whet your appetite – for travel or for the upcoming reveal – hopefully both!

Tune in tomorrow for German artists!