Centro Internazionale di Scultura
Every year from 2020, the Fondazione Internazionale per la Scultura will award scholarships to artists who are dedicated to three-dimensional work. Five artists will be selected by the jury, to live and work at the CIS. The scholarship is CHF 1500.00 per month. The artists will have at their disposal a personal studio, a shared work area with a 20-ton crane and three workshops equipped with all the necessary tools and materials for work with stone (marble), wood and metal etc. They will live in individual apartments in the artists’ house which is located in the village centre of Peccia.
Professional 3-D artists may apply for a studio scholarship after completion of their studies at a recognised university/academy. Recommended are 1-2 years professional experience and exhibitions of their work. Three-dimensional artists with no formal education may apply if they have been working as artists for at least five years and have exhibited their works publicly (in galleries, art spaces, museums) or have been able to exhibit three of their works in a public space.
The Management also organizes a support programme for all scholarship holders. Active participation in joint events is essential. The scholarship holders must agree to periodically enable visitors to come to the studios, to foster artists’ encounters with sponsors and donors for the benefit of all those involved in the Fondazione or the Centro. They are expected to play an active part in these visits and encounters, and thereby will support the fundraising efforts of the Fondazione and Centro for the benefit of creative artists.
It is hoped that each scholarship holder donates one of his/her models or works to the Foundation. The selection is determined in consultation with the Artistic Committee.
At the end of the Artist in Residence stay, the scholarship holders are responsible for ensuring that their works and all personal materials are removed.
After their stay, the scholarship holders may become members of the Artistic Committee. They are thus also eligible in the awarding of the studios, together with the Artistic Committee members and the jury. As a rule, one former scholarship holder is elected to become a member of the jury.
The works created in Peccia are subject to a commission of 30%. If an artist is able to sell one of his/her works created in Peccia, 30% of the proceeds will go to the Centro (Artists’ Solidarity Contribution). The commission of 30% also applies to works or contracts negotiated by the Fondazione or Centro.
There are five studios available. These are usually awarded only once. The studios are designed as autonomous working units.
The scholarship holders must be willing and capable of working independently with sculpting materials. In line with the purpose of the Foundation, the marble of Peccia is the main work material, but all other stones and other materials such as wood, metal, plaster, clay, paper etc. can also be used. There are no assistants or other workers available to help with the projects.
Each scholarship holder will have an apartment in the artists’ house which is located in the village centre of Peccia. There are six residential units in this house. Each unit has its own shower/toilet and a small kitchenette. The house also has a large kitchen and dining area for communal use. The scholarship holders are expected to cater for themselves. Internet connection is available: WLAN.
The Centro provides the scholarship holders with a large outdoor work area with a 20-ton crane for shared use. Adjoining are three workshops with professional equipment, machines and tools for use with stone, wood and metal.
The Management of the Foundation ensures that the scholarship holders are introduced to the equipment of the workshops and are shown how to use the tools and materials, if necessary.
The project is rooted in the wild romantic mountain region of the upper Maggia valley/Ticino/Switzerland with its embedded marble deposit. For thousands of years the stone has formed and shaped the valley. In more recent times the marble has been the reason for the construction of the marble works and the nearby Sculpture School, and now the International Centre for Sculpture. The church in the nearby village of Mogno, designed by Mario Botta, also echoes the language of the valley: it was built with the local materials of gneiss and marble.