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The following were the artists in residence in 2015:
Hussein Janmohamed – singer, composer and conductor from Coquitlam, British Columbia
Hussein Janmohamed is a composer, conductor and singer who is passionate about choral music. He is the first Doris McCarthy Artist in Residence at Fool's Paradise, where he will compose choral music exploring sonic intersections of the Muslim world in a contemporary Canada. Hussein is a South Asian Ismaili Muslim born in Kenya, raised in Alberta and nurtured in British Columbia. Throughout his life, Hussein found inspiration in choral music and congregational singing in the prayer hall to connect with the spirit and to transform the negativity of racism and discrimination into a positive life force. Group singing became the bridge for him to build relations with others and simultaneously to reconcile his plural Canadian and Muslim identities. Hussein is dedicated through choral composition, performance and education to give people of all backgrounds a chance to sing and make music together that enriches Canadian society through celebration of our cultural diversity. He currently sings with the Elmer Iseler Singers as the 2014-15 James T. Chestnutt Choral Scholar. For more information, visit www.husseinjanmohamed.com.
Todd Stewart – printmaker from Montreal, Quebec
Todd Stewart is an artist working primarily in illustration and printmaking. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan and now living in Montreal, Stewart creates silkscreened pieces that consciously allow for open interpretation and multiple perspectives. They reflect a search for meaning in both familiar and unfamiliar landscapes. His pieces are built by exposing the control and precision of illustration to the unpredictability and chance inherent to the printmaking process. He has exhibited his works in private and public spaces across Canada.
Kate Wilson – painter from Toronto, Ontario
Kate Wilson is a Toronto-based visual artist whose practice includes site-specific wall drawing projects and digital painting. Wilson has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is a recipient of awards from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, including the Canada Council International Residencies, Paris. Wilson’s work can be found in private, corporate and public gallery collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Museum London, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery and the BMO Financial Group. Wilson is represented by General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto. For more information, visit www.katewilsonprojects.com.
Lydia Adams – choral musician and composer from Caledon East, Ontario
Lydia Adams has dedicated her career to the growth of Canadian choral music. She is the Artistic Director of both the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, national leaders in commissioning, premièring, performing and recording Canadian choral works. A native of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Adams received her musical education at Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio, London, England. She has conducted choral works of many Canadian composers and has toured extensively and guest conducted throughout Canada and the United States. Recently, she conducted a tour of the world’s first Cree opera, Pimooteewin: The Journey, by Tomson Highway and Melissa Hui. Her own compositions are performed worldwide. In June 2009, Adams won the prestigious Ontario Premier’s Finalist Award for Excellence in the Arts, recognizing her outstanding achievement and contribution to arts and culture. She has also been honoured by the City of Scarborough, the Women’s International Network and the Ontario Choral Federation. For her work as an Artist in Residence at Doris McCarthy’s home, Lydia will be working on a new choral work inspired by members of the Mount Allison Community who were lost in the First World War. (Photo: Pierre Maravel)
Jan Coates – children’s author from Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Jan Coates lives and writes in her now-empty nest in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with her husband and their Golden Irish "puppy." Coates has been writing for young readers since 2000 and has written many books since then, including her young adult novel, A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk, which was a Governor General's Literary Award finalist in 2011. When she's not at her laptop or thinking about her characters, Coates enjoys playing badminton, going to the gym, spending time at the cottage and thrift-store shopping. While retreating to Fool's Paradise, she'll spend time writing a middle-grade novel set partially during the original settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1753. For more information, visit www.jancoates.ca.
Gerald Hill – writer/poet from Regina, Saskatchewan
Two-time winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry, and winner of second place for Poetry in the 2011 CBC Literary Awards, Gerald Hill will publish his 6th collection, Hillsdale Book, in 2015 with NeWest Press. Sub-sets of that book appeared in 2012 as Hillsdale, a Map, produced with designer Jared Carlson, and Streetpieces, a chapbook produced by David Zieroth at The Alfred Gustav Press in Vancouver. Active for many years as both organizer of and participant in workshops and readings, conferences and courses, Hill has just retired from his career teaching English and Creative Writing at Luther College at the University of Regina. For more information, visit www.geraldhill.ca.