Arts / Music
Brunswick stonemason follows in the footsteps of the Masters
Learning sculpture techniques in Florence beckons for young craftsman
Amelie Martin
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If the idea of studying sculpture in the heart of the city that spawned the Renaissance sounds like a dream, you are soon to be very jealous of Marcello Zudich.
Zudich, 24, will shortly be leaving home in Brunswick West to take up an opportunity to study at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art, located in the Tuscan capital.
The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes hot on the heels of the stonemason and sculptor winning the 2026 Master Builders Victoria Apprentice of the Year Craftsperson Award.
Zudich will spend three years in the sculpture program at the Florence Academy of Art, where he will further develop his skills in heritage restoration. He begins the course at the end of September.
Yet, according to Zudich, he had no aspirations to be a stonemason while at high school.
“I didn’t have any interaction with [stonemasonry], it was never on my radar until I started doing it,” he said.
“But I loved learning and I still do. My absolute favourite subject I think would have been ancient history, particularly ancient Greece, I was enamoured with what I learned”.
With his love for ancient history, a father who is an architect, and his mother an Italian teacher with a passion for art, perhaps his selection of stonemasonry in TAFE wasn’t as random as he recalls it to be.
Whatever the case, he has discovered a passion for the craft.
“The most special thing is slowly turning a solid block of stone into the form that you’re trying to create,” he said.
“It gets especially exciting when you get really close and everything falls into form, literally speaking, and the details start to come in.”
Employed as an apprentice by Cathedral Stone in Craigieburn, his experience spans significant heritage work, including rebuilding bluestone walls and restoring important structures.
One the highlights of Zudich’s short career has been working with Warrick Young and Christian Waugh to install the South African Soldiers Memorial at the new ANZAC Station in St Kilda Road.
Personal projects have also played a part in his artistic journey: recently, he replaced his grandfather’s headstone in Kew Cemetery with elegant Carrara marble engraved with ‘Nonni Domenico e Lucia Sempre Con Noi’ (‘Grandparents Domenico and Lucia Always with Us’).
At the MBV awards in May, the judges highlighted his pride and creativity, noting his passion for extending his craft beyond the workplace into personal projects and sculpture.
“His achievement highlights his genuine dedication, determination and enormous creative talent,” said MBV Chief Executive Officer Michaela Lihou.
“Marcello will no doubt continue to build on his remarkable talent during his three-year sculpture programme in Florence.”
The Florence Academy of Art was founded by American painter Daniel Graves in 1991 in a small studio in the gardens of a Florentine palace. Today it is housed in a 19th century former customs house just outside the city centre, a short walk from the Arno River and the monuments of Florence, and accepts students from all over the world.
The sculpture program is full time and takes three years to complete. Students work daily from the figure or portrait, while attending lectures in Anatomy and Art History.
After submitting a portfolio of stonemasonry and drawings (a skill he has only recently acquired), Zudich was welcomed into a thousand-year-old legacy of Italian culture.
He is plunging all of his life savings into the course.
Aside from learning all forms of sculpture, the students will also visit the renowned marble quarries of Carrara, where Zudich is keen to watch master carvers at work.
While his mentor, Melbourne sculptor Peter Schipperheyn, recalls Zudich’s original trepidation about studying at the Florence Academy of Art, his excitement certainly outweighs any reservations he may have.
Fluent in Italian, he is looking forward to immersing himself in a city he first visited when a small child on a family holiday.
“No, I’m not nervous, I don’t usually get nervous,” he said. “Probably nervous on the plane though.”
Schipperheyn highlights that each artist is “only part of a whole chain of spirits that go through time echoing the same beautiful things that the Italians have done with such extraordinary excellence”.
What better place to “understand the complexities of form” than down the road from historical landmarks such as the Castello di Bisarno, Torre Rossa or only a bus ride away from the Galleria degli Uffizi or the Galleria dell’Accademia (which displays Michelangelo’s Statue of David – one of Zudich’s early inspirations).
While Zudich carries this flame as he journeys to Florence, he also continues the legacy of Australian artists from painter Murray Griffin, who mentored Schipperheyn.
The opportunity in Florence will open pathways into specialised craftsmanship and future roles in project management, but Zudich is hesitant to look too far ahead.
“I don’t want to set expectations,” he said.
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