Travels with Mela: Although wallpaper is my preoccupation, travel is my passion. And, what fun it is to combine both on trips around the world. These journeys are a chance to view how wallcovering is treated in different cultures and they also provide an opportunity to donate wallpaper borders to brighten a child’s room or a family kitchen. Over the course of the next year I will be sharing photos of recent travel and linking my experiences back to home base in Cleveland, Ohio and our 7000 square foot showroom filled with over 4000 patterns. So, let’s get started.
This is an image of what I refer to as Agri-Art. It is artwork created in a natural field setting using grasses and crops of different heights and colors. The picture does not do it justice for this is an intricate ‘painting’ of letters and shapes carved into the grassy landscape. It is said that prior to the ‘artwork’ shown in this photo, the same artist in the same field had created a facsimile of the face of the country’s President and when he was flown in a helicopter overhead and told to look down, he cried tears of joy at the natural visage.
Reminded me of topiaries which are pruned to perfection only to outgrow their shapes and ultimately to have to be replaced with a new construct. In this border the ‘shapes’ are permanent.
Interestingly, in this nation that is often associated with a lack of water, there exists the most exquisite natural springs in an area referred to as The Valley of Springs.
These idyllic settings are a treat for all the senses and they reminded me of some water-based borders.
The travel photos were all taken in Israel in an AMAZING area that is a hidden gem. Called The Valley of Springs it is in the Lower Galilee and within easy reach of Tiberias, Haifa, Nazareth, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Filled with a series of natural springs and many other wonders, of which I will speak in future blogs, this magical landscape is a microcosm of world religious, political and social history. So, if you are looking for a place of great beauty, rich in historical references, and lacking in tourist crowds, this is the place for you. Come Discover the Undiscovered.
Mela
