The Artist

It goes without saying that one of the greatest joys of travel is meeting new people. In meeting new people, we gain not only memories, but often friendships.

Ron found our apartment on Air BnB. We met our host, Diana, upon our arrival. As we settled in, we became more and more curious about the apartment itself. It is not visible from the street, and is accessible only through a carriageway under and through a decorative, brick, four story apartment building. Once through the carriageway (yes, it is large enough to have accommodated a horse and wagon), the courtyard behind is framed by two more, much smaller buildings, and a tall stone fence. We are in the smaller of these two buildings, on the first floor. From the courtyard we can see windows above our apartment, with windowsills filled with jars of paint brushes drying in the sun.

So many questions! We were very happy when our host, Diana, offered us a tour so we didn't have to pry! This is what we learned. The tall, four story apartment building that faces the street has been an apartment for as long as anyone can remember. The two structures behind it were an old furniture factory and storage building that had been abandoned for years. Diana is an artist, and was looking for space to live, paint, and have a small gallery, with enough space to also hold Qi Gong classes which she teaches. She drew up a set of plans, and presented them to the landlord, convincing him to build out the old factory and create two apartments, plus her apartment/studio/gallery. He agreed and it was a success.

But the old storage building was still empty. Diana convinced the owner that the property was perfect with three full time tenants, and suggested he NOT make another apartment. She proposed a B&B, and drew up more plans. The end result was our apartment on the first level, and a beautiful artist's work room above, accessible through a narrow staircase from Diana's gallery.

Diana works in a variety of media - water color, acrylic.

She is also an accomplished sculptor, and we were able to view some of her work in marble, and also some sculpted from an innovative material made of paper, resin and stone which she developed. This is the material used in both the nude sculpture depicted in the "lead" photo for this blog above, and the woman in red, shown here.

Diana studied in Paris, and I think that her interpretation of Rodin's "The Thinker" is brilliant!

Diana Hartung-Graßer, Artist Extraordinaire!