A new work of public art inspired by one of the pivotal figures in modern art is to be planted in Aberdeenshire.

In the early 1980s, the German artist Joseph Beuys planted 7000 oak trees over several years in Kassel, Germany, each with an accompanying basalt stone.

Beuys, who lived from 1921 to 1986, and who visited Scotland with festival impresario Richard Demarco, is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the late twentieth century, a political and social activist and educator as well as conceptual artist.

Now Deveron Arts, based in the Aberdeenshire town of Huntly, is to plant its own oak wood using saplings grown from Beuys' oaks, accompanied by stones taken from First World War battlefields.

Beuys saw trees as an "an element of regeneration which in itself is a concept of time. The oak is especially so because it is a slowly growing tree with a kind of really solid heart wood."

In Huntly, Deveron Arts has commissioned artist Caroline Wendling to create the "land art" which is entitled Oaks and Amity.

Claudia Zeiske, the director of Deveron Arts, which is funded by Creative Scotland, said: "Joseph Beuys was an artist with an ardent interest in politics, in particular those relating to peace and ecology.

"He visited Scotland and became entranced by the Celtic tradition, the landscape and the mythological histories of the area.

"Joseph Beuys' work has, to a large extent, informed the work of Deveron Arts to date."

In 2012, Ms Zeiske collected and seeded acorns that stem from Joseph Beuys' 7000 oaks project in Kassel.

Sixty of them have germinated in Huntly and are now ready to be planted as part of Caroline Wendling's artwork.

The planted trees will commemorate the 182 people from Huntly who died in the First World War.

"Beside those who went to war, there were also a number of conscientious objectors," added Ms Zeiske "and Caroline is also devoting her special attention to them".

Ms Wendling has started to recruit 182 tree planters - to reflect the number of soldiers from Huntly that did not come back from the war.

She is also hosting a series of exploratory walks to choose the best site for the oaks near to Huntly, in partnership with the Forestry Commission.

The project is one of many instigated in the town by Deveron Arts.

The body has brought a series of cultural and artistic events to the small town, including the regular artist in residence scheme.

Artists working there leave items for the town, so buildings, shops and public spaces are the gallery walls for 55 specially commissioned works of art, including pieces by Kenny Hunter, Jacqueline Donachie and Dalziel + Scullion.

Deveron Arts coined a motto for the town, 'Room to Roam' with a logo, in the shape of an antler, designed by South African artist Jacques Coetzer.

A song of the same name has been written by Mike Scott of The Waterboys.