Marsha Godoy-Schindler, born in Los Angeles from parents that immigrated from Mexico, is a Sacramento ceramicist, installation artist, painter and teacher whose work is hallmarked by the underpinnings of her background as a Marine Biologist.
Her narrative installations explore environmental changes and the response and adaptation of nature to those circumstances. Godoy-Schindler says, “Science and Art work in very similar ways. You observe carefully, watch for patterns and connections to discover a narrative and then reinterpret these findings. And of course, there is always mystery!” She continues, “Hand-building with clay, I cannot help but see a reflection of our global issues – think shifting plates, melting ice, global deforestation, species extinction, unbearable heat. Imagery, texture, shine or its opposite are suggested by what is around me.

Transformative figures especially as Tree Spirits allow cross-species communication and often carry messages of importance. Godoy-Schindler received her MA from California State University Long Beach and has worked on numerous high-level projects throughout her career. She’s cultivated clay artists through her business, clayARTstudio814 which supports several working artists, as well as her teaching at her own studio, professorships with Art Institute of California, American River College and as a fine art instructor for the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Her work is widely collected and shown and her public art commissions include “Minerva” a mural created at the California State Capitol for First Lady Maria Shriver.