Wilhelmina Godfrey (1914-1994)

Wilhelmina Godfrey was a painter, weaver, printmaker, teacher, crafts consultant, and writer. Her paintings often depicted the African American experience living on Buffalo’s East Side, and her weavings usually incorporated African motifs. Her mixed media woven sculptures, Face Fetish and Untitled (#22) both reflect her knowledge of techniques, patterns, and totemic symbolism of African masks and ceremonial regalia. A specialist in the field, she presented her research, “The Negro Slave Crafts Workers of North and South Carolina” at the National African American Crafts Conference Symposium in 1979.