I’ve known Susan Jephcott [link] for most of my life, and she has always been one of my favourite people… and one of my favourite artists.

I think Susan and I first met when I was ten- or eleven-years old. I remember her home — a three-storey red-brick house, with the third-storey being a tower, being filled with Susan’s artwork and totems and just basically crazy strange (for a ten-year old) stuff she and her husband had collected from around the world. It was fascinating and a little overwhelming.

About the same time, Susan, and ten or twelve other artists in and around Vankleek Hill, started having group shows at a local gallery… at some point they all got together and started a Festival called ‘The May Show’. It quickly turned into a town-wide three-day annual Event with local musicians, and arts & crafts all over Main Street.

Susan’s latest show is called “Mutations & Communication” [link], it’s kind of a retrospective of various era’s of her work. It’s being held at Hawkesbury’s “Centre Culturel Chenail Cultural Centre” until Feb. 9 / 25.

“My work has gone from highly textured figurative portrait studies to hard-edged symbolism, re-absorbing and personalizing classical techniques and re-directing them into stark storytelling. For me what connects my work is an ongoing battle between primitive human impulses and an unmovable destiny of myth and spirituality that forces the untamed or unwilling to do its bidding. In my world, the spirit always wins and woe to those who choose folly or greed, conflict and arrogance.”

This was my first time in the 5C’s Gallery (Le Chenail) [link]… it’s an interesting space. It’s a little isolated, but still a very important piece of Hawkesbury’s cultural / arts scene. I brought my youngest son, Quintin, with me (he’s 10), and he enjoyed Susan’s work. I let him use my camera, so a few of the shots below are his.

I had an opportunity about ten years ago to interview Susan about her relationship with Freda Pemberton Smith [link] (another legendary Vankleek Hill artist). I was putting together 20-minute interviews with local artists for a potential show on our local cable-access channel. And getting people to talk about other local artists was a big part of the idea. The project came to an impasse due to technical difficulties… but it had fades wipes and graphics of Freda’s work. I thought it looked great. You can see the original, uncut interview below.

…so, the Show ends on Sunday, February 9th, I’d definitely recommend a visit. It’s free. And now, if you’re down with it, just click on a photo to get the carousel going… or push play on the video… or both, it’s totally up to you.