Saturday July 11, 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 12 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 life drawing workshop led by painter and visual artist Gabriele Grones (2023 RU alum), participants are invited to slow down and look closely at the nature surrounding them on Governors Island. A composition of objects and plants drawn from the island’s vegetation will serve as a shared subject, guiding participants through the fundamentals of observational drawing: form, line, and proportions.
Using pencil on paper and with no prior experience required, each participant will leave with a completed drawing and a working knowledge of drawing from life.
Materials are provided, participants are welcome to bring their own pencils and sketchbook if they prefer.
Click below to see pictures of the program.
About
Gabriele Grones is a painter and visual artist whose work explores the intersection between nature and cultural memory. Rooted in meticulous observation and shaped by the visual vocabulary of art history and iconography, his paintings investigate how plants, figures, and objects embody layered meanings shaped by tradition and culture. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Grones took part in two editions of the Venice Biennale: Atelier Aperti in 2005 and Lo Stato dell’Arte – Art Academies Pavilion at the Arsenale in 2011. In 2021 he held a solo exhibition at Ca’ Pesaro – International Museum of Modern Art in Venice. His work has been exhibited internationally at the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Society of Painters in London, the MEAM European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, the MART Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rovereto and Palazzo Fulcis Museum in Belluno, both in Italy, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Indiana, the Museum of Art in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, Malta, and the Volkskunstmuseum in Innsbruck, Austria.
Grones was selected for the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2008, and received the Level 0 Prize in 2020. He has participated in artist residencies including RU Residency Unlimited, the ICAA Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, and Wave Hill in New York.
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.
