[2] She also attended the Art Students League of New York, where she studied with artists Will Barnet, Harry Sternberg, and Vaclav Vytlacil.

During this time she also attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts, and met artists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Marcel Duchamp.

[2] At the suggestion of her RPI college instructor Jewett Campbell,[5] she moved to New York City in 1953 to attend the Art Students League and study under Hans Hofmann, who influenced her work heavily.

[2] Godwin credited Hofmann with making her feel at home after moving to New York, as well as with challenging her conservative color palette and technique.

[2][7] In the late 1950s, through Kenzo Okada, she met and was invited by Betty Parsons to join her new gallery, Section Eleven, becoming the youngest woman to ever show her work there.

[2] Her success in mid-century Abstract Expressionism is notable, as there were few women celebrated among a movement associated with well-known male artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

[2] She practiced a style of painting that emphasized interpretation of experience and emotion through improvisational construction of the work, combining the language of color with gestural movements.

[2] Soon after moving to New York City, she became friends with Martha Graham through an earlier connection made while still a student at Mary Baldwin College.

Speaking of one such piece, her 9-foot wide diptych The Ring, Godwin said, "I most often begin to paint by envisioning form and space in nature and then interpret my ideas and feelings into planes of color on the canvas.

When I recognize an emerging form, I respond intuitively by evolving complementary sub-forms in colors and applications which feel supportive and foster development.

Early in her career Godwin employed a strong, aggressive style in order to silence the male critics who dismissed women's contributions to the art world at that time.