Daphne, Merlin, Philemon and Baucis and the Vine Elves...

I live and work in the heart of the Kaiserstuhl. On my daily walks through the vineyards I was always fascinated by the split acacia stakes that were rammed into the loess soil at the beginning and end of each row of vines to hold the wires, weathering away in sun, wind and frost. For many years I simply noticed them. I also noticed that they were being pulled out and replaced by metal poles.

Then, in the hot summer of 2003, I was swimming in the Burkheim gravel lake. A piece of driftwood floated towards me. I played with it. I balanced on it. I pushed it away and pulled it back. I looked at it more closely – and it spoke to me: I am Daphne. Give me a face! OK, I said, nothing would please me more, put it on my bicycle, rode straight to my studio and modelled a head – very introverted, mysterious, reserved, beautiful – a head with a great deal of soul. That gave me real joy! My friend from the art studio above mine was equally enthusiastic about Daphne. One day she arrived with a unique piece of driftwood sticking out of the sunroof of her Smart: "From the Elbe, for you," she said. OK, bien venue! She too received an expressive head. The third Daphne was stuck in my neighbour's tomato bucket. She was already painted – poisonous green – beautiful – just right!

But then no more pieces of wood came to me by themselves. So I went searching. I searched along the Rhine, the Elzach, in the Albtal, along the Doux, in the forests of the Kaiserstuhl, the Vosges and the Black Forest. I went after every storm, after every flood. Nothing! Simply nothing! And then one morning, on my walk through the vineyards, I saw them... the Vine Elves, Wine Spirits, Daphne, Daphnis, Philemon and Baucis, Merlin and whatever their names. They stood there in the mist and waited. They had been waiting forty-five years for their present faces. Voilà!