Saturday September 5, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm
Location: RU House at Colonels Row, Building #404B on Governors Island (map)
Ferry information | Video directions
Free Workshop
Limited to 15 participants. If you require any accessibility accommodations, please let us know at info@residencyunlimited.org when you RSVP and we will be happy to assist.
RSVP required.
In this hands-on workshop led by Miatta Kawinzi (2023 RU NYC BAR alum), participants will be inspired by engaging in close observation and sketching of tree, plant, and root formations on Governor’s Island, and guided in creating pliable wire sculptures that reflect their shapes. Using a shared technique of hand-wrapping wire in yarn, participants will create modular sculptures that will then be combined into a larger, collectively-shaped formation.
The process will echo principles of collectivity, inter-connection, and inter-dependence modeled by the natural world.
All levels are welcome and materials will be provided.
This initiative is part of a series of 20 workshops designed to provide post residency support to RU’s local alumni artists. Curated by alum curator Hayley Ferber, the workshops are centered on the theme of creative engagement with the natural environment, inviting participants to explore processes of reuse, observation, material experimentation, and collective making.
About
Miatta Kawinzi is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator based in Brooklyn, NY (Lenapehoking). Her practice explores cultural hybridity, memory, freedom dreaming, and ecologies of possibility within inner and outer landscapes. Her practice spans installation, sculpture, still and moving images, sound, painting, and poetics. Her work engages themes of inter-connectivity, diaspora, and softness. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College, and a BA in Interdisciplinary Art & Cultural Theory from Hampshire College.
Her work has been presented in spaces including Bemis Center, Smack Mellon, CUE Art, PS 122 Gallery, Anthology Film Archives, and the Africa Center, and her practice has been supported by Creative Capital, Jerome Foundation, Harpo Foundation, and Artadia. She has completed residencies with Smack Mellon, ISCP, MacDowell, and Residency Unlimited, among others. She is currently on faculty at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and additionally works as an arts educator in community spaces, museums, and socially-engaged organizations throughout NYC and beyond.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In-kind support is provided by Materials for the Arts.
RU is grateful for the partnership with Governors Island Arts.
