It all began in 1984 when the sculptor Rolf Flachsmann acquired a piece of land in the village of Peccia where he made himself at home in a small hut and set up his own work site. Together with some sculptor friends who had already been working in Peccia, he started giving sculpting courses. The ‘Spirit of Peccia’ was born at that time.
In 1987 Alex Naef took over the sculpture school from Rolf Flachsmann and from then on the school was called ‘Scuola di Scultura di Peccia’. Right from the beginning much energy went into this developing project. More and more people became interested in the Scuola di Scultura thus enabling the school to grow and expand. The inhabitants of Peccia were keen for this unique school to become firmly established and therefore supported the move in 1989-90 to today’s industrial area. A spacious area of 3200 square meters and the support from the Swiss Confederation, the canton of Ticino and Ticino Tourism for the construction of the new buildings, made it possible for the work to be carried out. With each completed building phase we were able to offer more courses. The completion of the big studio in 1994 also marked the beginning of the ‘Wbk’, the four-year vocational training course ‘Stone Sculpting and Three-Dimensional Design’.
In 2001 Almute Grossmann-Naef began to work for the management of the Scuola di Scultura, both as a course instructor and as the person responsible for the further training course and school development.
The school, as it is today, was completed after the final stage of construction, 2004-05.
We are extremely grateful to everyone who plays a part at the Scuola di Scultura di Peccia: Course participants, students of the vocational training course, professional artists and course leaders who rent our guest studios. Without the collaboration of all our tutors and lecturers who come to Peccia to share their knowledge and skills we would not be able to offer such a varied programme.
In its over 40 year history the Scuola di Scultura di Peccia has become a meeting point and a cultural centre for sculpture. We will do our best to ensure that it will remain so in the future mindful of the need for constant development. That is: preserve and cultivate what has been tried and tested, discuss contemporary issues and integrate new approaches.