Cline House Gallery Presents – ‘Emerging Narratives’
September 16, 2025
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Cornwall, On – The exhibition Emerging Narratives brings together the work of two artists and friends – Ian Griffiths and Susie Fairbrother. These two bodies of work could be easily summed up by saying one is about viewing the natural world, while the other is about looking at objects that exist in the places we inhabit.
One of the consistent stories in these artworks would be the focus on looking – viewing, assessing, analysing, surveying and perceiving; these words are a reminder that today in a world chock full of images we are slowly losing the sense of what it means to look. It is with looking and experiencing that narratives emerge.
Griffiths says “ever since I was a wee lad, I would have toast for breakfast. To me, toast is a comfort food, a base for butter and jam, even maple syrup! Our toaster was a stylish Morphy-Richards model from the early 50’s.”
He goes onto say, “during my career as an art teacher, I was looking for a way to help my students transition from light and shadow renderings of 3D objects using charcoal and pastels to similar effects using oil paints; it hit me that by smudging using one’s fingers to blend and modify light effects with charcoal could easily be done with varying amounts of white oil paint and hog bristle brushes…rubbing or “scumbling” to get nuances of greys”.
The first insight gives us a strong personal narrative experience while the second is more so about artistic process. Griffiths process is a hyperrealist representation of nostalgic objects done in the age-old genre of still life.
For years Susie Fairbrother worked as a stained-glass craftsman, and later as a set designer/painter. These experiences have informed the way Fairbrother paints – her use of flattened space, skewed perspective, simplified shapes and lack of shadows. Her landscape paintings recall the strong tradition of this genre in Canadian art history; from the work of Emily Carr to the Group of Seven to E.J. Hughes.
In 2002 Fairbrother decided to paint full time and hasn’t stopped since. She states “My work interprets all the beauty I see while leaving all my stories behind as I go. I feel so fortunate, as painting is my great pleasure.”
In both works we the viewer are asked to look, to take a moment to allow the narratives that we know to connect and emerge with these images.
Additional Information
‘Emergin Narratives’ is on display at the Cline House Gallery, 204 Second Street East, from September 18 to October 25, 2025, every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
Vernissage Saturday, September 27 @1PM
For more information, please visit the Cline House Gallery website.
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