Winnie Godfrey is our April Artist of the Month. Originally from Philadelphia, Godfrey was raised on Chicago’s south side and earned a bachelor of science in art and a master of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin. She also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California.
The timeless tradition of floral painting inspires most of Godfrey’s work, but she developed a unique style that depicts floral subjects in an eye-catching, modern way. She utilizes light, color and composition techniques to make photorealistic paintings and presents her subjects with a fresh approach to depicting shapes, texture and the translucency of flowers.
Although her artwork primarily consists of oil-based floral paintings, she is renowned for her work in other figurative subjects, including a series inspired by the indigenous Mayans in Guatemala. Each painting illustrates a different village and costume in a sequence of 14 life-size oils titled “Mayan Procession.” While she often uses oil paint, Godfrey includes a variety of mediums in this series, such as textiles, photos and “alfombra” or carpet made of colored sawdust.
In 1965, she visited Mexico for the first time and spent a year in Guadalajara. The following year, Godfrey taught at the city’s Jesuit university, ITESO, and also attended the University of Arizona summer program in Guadalajara.
Godfrey has given art classes and workshops at multiple institutions, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968, Rochester Art Center, Minnesota in 1970, the University of Illinois Chicago in 1975, the North Shore Art League, Winnetka, Illinois, in 1977, and the Blackhawk Workshop, Colorado in 1987.
Her work is displayed in a number of private, corporate and museum collections throughout North America, including one of her more notable exhibitions that presented her work with that of Georgia O’Keefe and Marc Chagall in the 20th Century Flower Paintings exhibit at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
To see Godfrey’s work, visit her official website.
