Canadian mixed-media abstract painter JoAnn Godenir is deeply inspired by the geometric shapes, quiltlike patterns and earthy colours of the Canadian prairie landscape she was born and raised in as well as the nostalgic notions of home and motherhood.
An underlying recurring motif in Godenir’s work speaks to her personal experience navigating the complexities and challenges of life as a woman with many competing and complex roles, responsibilities, and expectations without losing herself in the process. As an artist, ADHD woman, supportive wife, loving mother to both a neurotypical and a neurodiverse transgender child, Godenir‘s work masterfully expresses the tension between desiring order and control with needing to let go, and embrace and find meaning, empowerment and beauty in the natural unpredictability of life.
Godenir’s work is full of layers and contrasts, created through the use of both conventional and unconventional tools, hard-edge and underpainting techniques, that invite the viewer to come closer to see all that lies beneath. Her distinctive style combines a deep and intuitive understanding of materials and process with inventive, sophisticated, and visually engaging explorations of form, pattern, and colour that together reveal bold yet whimsical and deeply nuanced works of courage, risk, and ultimately acceptance.