Featuring: Hunter Clarke Ilene Godofsky Michelle Orsi Gordon Matt Harvill Erin Lee Jones Georgina Keenan Raghava KK Nia Mora Jennifer Murray Sara Woolley

Curated by Under Minerva’s Artistic Director Tony Orrico

G O D D E S S is a group art show that reflects on the wisdom and guidance of the divine feminine. This show is a dedication to Brenda Navas (1977-2008), a prominent business woman in our community whose successful entrepreneurship led to the development of our gallery space. Brenda, a native of Guatemala, and her husband Chris Achong, a native of Trinidad built a financial services company from the ground up, which currently comprises of nearly 200 active representatives and is still growing. In late January of 2008, Brenda died of complications from a sudden stroke at the young age of 30.

In Brenda’s honor, a portion of our proceeds from the sale of this artwork will be donated to The Hazel K. Goddess Fund for Stroke Research in Women to assist their efforts in education, outreach, research and endowment for the future. The Goddess Fund, based in New York City, speaks of one clear and compelling intention: to eliminate the impact of stroke in women’s lives, the lives of their families and society at large (www.thegoddessfund.org).

Hunter Clarke (paintings) was born in Newport, RI. She lives and works in historic Ardencroft, DE. She has exhibited and sold her work to collectors internationally. This body of work supplants the idealized, objectified female of art historical nudes with pregnant chimeras.

Ilene Godofsky (mixed medium)is originally from New York City. She recently graduated from the textiles department at the Rhode Island School of design. She aims for precision in her craftsmanship,keeping cultural and historical references in mind while guided by intuition.

Michelle Orsi Gordon (monoprints) was born in Queens NY in 1975. She began painting at a young age and in 1997received a BFA from Parsons School of Design in Fine Arts. Michelle volunteers with Free Arts, an organization that mentors at-risk children through art projects.

Matt Harvill (paintings) is a native of Texas and art school drop out whose current work blurs the lines between abstraction and figural form. The work draws viewers closer to examine his unique technique, but it takes some distance to realize the consequent forms.

Erin Lee Jones (mixed medium) was born in Jacksonville,FL and is currently an interdisciplinary artist residing in Brooklyn. She received her MFA UW-Madison. Her strange and eccentric figures display recurring themes of celebration, repulsion, tragedy, and comedy.

Georgina Keenan (collage)was born1971, in Philadelphia. Began writing and editing for various art and design publications in 1994. She is a self-taught artist who works in cut paper and embroidery. In these works, there arrangement of images of nude women cultivates new meaning.

Raghava KK (paintings) is a self-taught artist,born in Bangalore, India in 1980. He currently resides in Brooklyn. Since his days as a cartoonist with Indian national dailies, he has reinvented himself through the use several different mediums and a wide range of artistic genres.

Nia Mora (photography) was born in Detroit, Michigan and is of Purepecha Mexican and African American decent. Her work explores the human subconscious,portraying her characters in imaginary worlds where the lines between gender and mortality become obscured.

Jennifer Murray (drawings) grew up in Northern California and attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She currently lives in East Harlem. Her work explores themes of gender, power, sexuality and performance. She was recently featured in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine.

Sara Woolley (mixed medium) was born in New York City in 1976 of Colombian-American decent. She received her master’s degree in Sculpture & Illustration from the Academy of Art University and is Program Director at the Beacon Center for Arts and Leadership in Brooklyn.