Born in 1945 in Stendal, Dieter lost his father at an early age.  He was initially an athlete, but his career was cut short by an injury and his interest turned to the arts.

He was eduated in art, art history, and design at such schools as the Erweiterte Oberschule, Karl Marx University (now the University of Leipzig), and the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig.  He then traveled to Moscow as an exchange student in 1968.  In 1970, after the birth of their daughter Claudia (1969), he married the painter Helga Melges.  He graduated in 1971 and became a freelance artist in Weissenfels.

In the following years, he traveled a little, studied, and became a university lecturer.  He eventually applied for permanent exit from the GDR and left East Germany.  He settled in West Berlin with his daughter, and was finally able to travel unrestricted to Italy and France.  He eventually moved back to Weimar in 1993 after the German Reunification, and still lives there today.  His second daughter, Agnes Sophie, was born in 2001.

In 2000 he bacame a lecturer at Fachhochschule Erfurt University of Applied Sciences.  His works have been displayed in Weissenfels, Berlin, Cologne, Aachen, Dresden and in the Saarland.  He primarily paints landscapes and portraits, but has also created sculptures.

• A collection of his work and his biography are available at Kunstmarkt.com
• Here is a video that features Dieter talking about his exhibition opening in Weimar.
• Here is another video that features Dieter discussing his I Paint My City project. And dancing. You can even see him at work painting a portrait about 2/3 way through the video. The music & sound effects are worth the watch.

Google Translate is the bomb, BTW.

Lita Weidenbach is an actress who played the role of “Rell” in the 2004 film, The Big Bounce, starring Owen Wilson, Charlie Sheen, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, and Willie Nelson (awesome.)  It got a 16% splat on RottenTomatoes.com (not so awesome.)

Adam Weidenbach played the role of “Coffee Shop Loser #2″ in the 2001 short film, One Angry Dwarf.  Sadly, this movie is not available at Amazon or Netflix, and has no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I did find a few angry dwarves on YouTube.

Uli Weidenbach, economist and sociologist, screenwriter and freelance journalist, directed the documentary Black September – The Olympic Murderer Munich ’72 – True Story (Deutschland: Schicksalsstunden – Von der Wannseekonferenz bis zur Wiedervereinigung), which is available for purchase…in German (with English subtitles!)  reviews are mixed, but I can’t read them.

This sculpture, “Nana I Ke Kumu” (Look to the Source), was completed in 1995 by Michael Weidenbach of Hawaii (the *other* Michael…the one with the BFA, MFA from University of Hawaii) and was purchased by the City of Honolulu in 1999 for the grounds of the Mission Memorial Auditorium.

(Larger version)

Michael is also the Curator of the Battleship Missouri Memorial, which boasts 400,000 visitors annually, and he recently oversaw a refit and preservation of the historic vessel. 

• ‘Mighty Mo’ undergoing $18M preservation
• Fact: More than one-third of the world’s commercial supply of pineapples comes from Hawaii.  Michael has little to do with this.

This landscape was sent in by Ron Colvin.  His wife’s grandmother’s maiden name was Adelheid Weidenbach, and this was passed down through the family.  It is signed, “K. Weidenbach ~ 1805“  I thought it might be one of Karl Augustus Weidenbach’s works, but the years don’t match up. (larger version)

Keith Wallace observes, “the image is that of a walled German town on a large river, in a sheep farming area with sailing ship access to the sea. Northern Germany?” but he cannot link the painter with the family in his research.

Friedrich August Weidenbach, Painter and Drawing Master of Naumburg was the patriarch of a famous family of Weidenbach painters in Naumburg in the 1800s. Several descendants emigrated to the United States and Australia in the mid-19th century.  Keith & Pat Wallace, of Brisbane, Australia compiled that data and posted the website while researching Pat’s family history, documenting not only the family’s geneaology, but also their works and the places where they lived. 

• The family of Painter Weidenbach, Naumburg an der salle, 1790-1860

Drawing by Friedrich, 1822

Karl Augustus Weidenbach was an accomplished landscape painter in the 1800s.  Here are some examples of his work.  In fact, he was a member of a famous family of Weidenbach painters.

Venice, by KAW

Zach is a talented acoustic singer/songwriter originating from Cave Creek, AZ.  His musical influences from the worlds of bluegrass, indie, alternative, and classical have culminated into a unique sound that has come to define Zach’s music. His presence on Youtube has garnered critical praise for interesting and original interpretations of popular artists’ songs.

• Zach’s YouTube Channel
• www.zachweidenbach.com