Summer Marble Carving

From July 3 to 21, 2023, the beautiful setting of Scuola Vantini’s sculpture workshop hosted the first edition of the Summer Marble Carving, an innovative project developed in collaboration with the Florence Academy of Art.

Eight artists, aged between 18 and 50, took part in the program. Over the course of three weeks, they created their own marble sculptures in Botticino stone while also following a rich program that introduced them to the distinctive features of the local area, whose cultural identity and productive development are closely tied to marble.

Artists: 

Program:

Sculpture workshop: 80 hours
Cultural activities: 40 hours

Together with the three sculpture instructors of Scuola Vantini—Silvia Maffioli, Angelo Bordonari and Pietro Maccioni—each participant created a Botticino marble sculpture based on a model previously selected during the application process, testing their skills and engaging with the unique characteristics of a new material.

Over the course of the three weeks, participants also met artists, architects and designers, and visited museums, companies and quarries. The extensive program was designed to provide them with the background needed to understand our territory and its marble, completing their artistic training and enabling them to become ambassadors of our region worldwide.

Cultural activities included:

• Visit to the Menga Alta quarry with Claudio Bresciani, owner of LA CIMA
• Visit to the Botticino Marble Museum with curator Maurizio Bettinzoli
• Visit to the Cooperativa Operai Cavatori with president Monica Berardi
• Visit to the Nuvolera basin with Enea Butturini and Giuliano Ghirardi of the Consorzio Cavatori Bacino Valle di Nuvolera
• Meeting with artist Giuseppe Bergomi
• Guided tour of Renaissance and Baroque Brescia
• Lecture on the use of marble in architecture and design with architect Davide Crippa (University of Venice)
• Visit to the studio of sculptor Gianpietro Moretti, together with Silvia Botti, Fiorenzo Zanola and Gianluca Senco of the Consorzio Marmisti Bresciani
• Visit to Marmi Ghirardi in Carpenedolo
• Visit to Brixia Romana and the Archaeological Park