Phoebe Godfrey
Sounds of the Sea
2023
I am a sociologist, and an artist. In the last few years my art has been focused on the topics of identity & intimacy, as well as our relationships with the environment / ourselves. I have included my artwork, and that of others, in my academic work as I think that the ‘arts’ are key to our abilities to engage in progressive social and personal change.
Sounds on the Sea is made from the inside of a piano that I found thrown away on a street in Providence RI. From the moment I saw it I wanted to make a large fish- it took 10 years to finally get around to completion. The head, fins and tail are all ceramic and then the welded frame was made with the help of Mike Coutu.
The piece celebrates the energetic movements of water, ocean life and music, inviting viewers to see their beauty emerging from what was seen as trash.
About the Artist
Phoebe Godfrey attended the Art Students League in NYC for four years while getting her Ph.D. in sociology at SUNY Binghamton. Upon moving to Connecticut she exhibited her work at ART SPACE in Willimantic, CT. In 2012 she exhibited in Who Art Thou? at Provenance Center, New London, CT, and at Connecticut State Community College Quinebaug Vallery, Danielson, CT. The artist received awards for her work in Self-Image: A Traditional or Non-Traditional Self Portrait at The Mystic Arts Center, Mystic CT; Sexualities in Contemporary Culture at the Provenance Center, New London, CT; and in Women Artists at the Silver Circle Gallery, Putnam CT. Godfrey has had her work selected for two exhibitions at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Inside Out in 2022 and Recycled in 2023. Her first solo exhibition titled Turning Ideas into Art was presented at The Kerri Gallery in Willimantic, CT in 2024. Most recently her work was included in When There Were No Borders and Maps: The Grandeur of Nature at Eastern Connecticut Community College, and All Together Now at the Alexey Von Schlippe Gallery at the University of Connecticut Avery Point.