Portrait of an Artist - Susan Jephcott

Today's Art Fayre artist is Susan Jephcott of Vankleek Hill, Ontario.

A pivotal hub in her regional artistic community, Sue Jephcott has been active as a full-time artist since 1956. Born in Hudson, Quebec, Jephcott's career has spanned nearly five decades, passing through notable evolutions of style and content. Ranging from highly textured figure and portrait studies to bold, hard-edged symbolism, Jephcott has absorbed and personalized classical techniques, redirecting them into the stark storytelling of her content-laden work.

From a series of ravens and crows, and what they may signify.

What connects the work is an ongoing battle between primitive human impulses, and an unmovable density of myth and spirituality that forces the untamed (and sometimes unwilling) to do its bidding. in Jephcott's world, the spirit always wins, and those who choose the folly of greed, conflict or arrogance are spared no mercy from her cutting painterly will, of the destiny that's owed to them.

Referred to by the sculptor Donald Liardi as Sue's "two by four diplomacy," her direct and often undiplomatic bluntness has lead some viewers to be uncomfortable with her work. Sometimes political, sometimes grotesque, and often sexual, Jephcott pulls no punches when she paints. She summons her own fears, dreams and anger to formulate a commentary on contemporary issues and relationships, often treating the act of painting as an incantation to cause something to happen.

Sue Jephcott is presently living and working in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, a Victorian-era village located between Ottawa and Montreal.

Join us at Art Fayre 2012 to meet Susan and see her works of art.