Who We Are

All content on this website and its pages is either the property of Providence House or has been used by permission of its author, creator or publisher. Reproduction and/or distribution of any kind, by any means is prohibited without the express written authorization of Providence House. Please contact : info@providencehouse.ca

...where the imagination soars
Providence House
Centre for Creative Arts
Providence Bay, Manitoulin Island

Providence House Centre for Creative Arts is the creative enterprise of Alex Baran and Mary-Jo Gordon who, along with their two lab-mystery dogs Chloé and Sheba, generally have a splendid time being a part of the community in paradise.

A wee bit about us...

Mary-Jo

Gordon

Mary-Jo grew up on a farm near Providence Bay and is a 5th generation of the extended McDermid family to live at Providence House. She graduated from the University of Guelph in 1995 with an Honour’s BA in Political Studies (double minor in Fine Art and Music) and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture in 1999.

After studying in the PhD program in Rural Studies in 2001 she worked for the Government of Ontario in Rural Economic Development as a research coordinator and project manager in Guelph until 2009.

Now that her children are independent and raising families of their own, Mary-Jo is taking the opportunity to fulfill her lifelong dream of returning home to Providence Bay to be engaged in the creative arts and in the community.

An opportunity to work in northern economic development from 2009-2011 allowed her to move closer to family in the North.

Mary-Jo was music director and pianist at Priory Park Church in Guelph for several years and has played viola in the University of Guelph Orchestra, the Cambridge Community Orchestra and the Dundas Valley Community Orchestra.

She was an alto in the University of Guelph Choir, the Guelph Community Choir, the

Central Presbyterian Church Choir and the Ariadne Women’s Chamber Choir of Sudbury. She is currently a member of Octatonic Decadence, a mixed voice “a capella” ensemble specializing in baroque and renaissance sacred music.

In her landscape design practice she has been commissioned to create labyrinths in various media and sacred landscapes for residential and institutional clients.

Mary-Jo continues a passion for painting and drawing which she first discovered while a student at Manitoulin Secondary School. She has nurtured this further through University and private courses over the years. She has created the sets and backdrops for two Gilbert and Sullivan musical productions on Manitoulin.

Mary-Jo’s experience with children is based primarily on having raised five sons, working with church youth groups, counselling at summer camps and her summer art camps for young people at Providence House.

She has taught college students, facilitated workshops and given presentations at conferences on the subject of whole consciousness creativity, a process she created based on the work of Carl Jung. She is passionate about creativity, its connection to the green world and the role it plays on our life journey.

Alex

Baran

Alex grew up in Toronto and graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Political Science in 1985 (minor in Chinese Language and Culture). He studied piano with Catherine Palmer (Toronto), organ with Eric Robertson (Toronto) and voice with Tina Torlone (Toronto) and Michael Warren (New York).

He has been Music Director and Organist at Newcastle United Church, Ryerson United Church (Hamilton), and Knox Presbyterian Church (Oshawa). Alex has sung baritone in the choir at Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton where he has also been occasional organist. He is occasional organist at the Church of the Epiphany and St. Andrew’s United Church in Sudbury and served briefly as a sessional instructor in the Music Department at Laurentian University.

Alex has performed in major roles in two Gilbert and Sullivan community theatre productions on Manitoulin and currently sings with Octatonic Decadence, a mixed voice “a capella” ensemble specializing in baroque and renaissance sacred music.

He was a broadcaster, Music and Program

Director at CJRT FM in Toronto for 20 years. Alex has co-produced and narrated a children’s recording in collaboration with the Mississauga Chamber Society. Released in January 2009, the CD features "The Snow Queen” and "The Little Mermaid", both by Canadian composer Patrick Cardy. It's available from the Canadian Music Centre.

He is a frequent CD reviewer for Whole Note Magazine; has served twice as a Juno Awards judge for the choral/vocal performance category, and also a choral adjudicator for the Ontario Arts Council and a peer assessor for the Canada Council for the Arts.

Alex spent 5 years as Executive Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra where enjoyed applying his aptitude for arts management, graphic design and marketing. He designed and delivered education programs which reached 20,000 children over a two-year period in Hamilton region. School productions included Robot from Orion by Elizabeth Raum and an original Canadian adaptation of Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale”.

Alex believes that the creative arts help us understand who we are and where “home” is.