LEAD ANIMATOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Allison Wolvers Brief Bio
Allison Wolvers (aka; Soubi Vee) was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Having grown up by the red shore of Brackley beach, she is inspired by the urban legends and old tales passed down from the community, revolving around fairies, mermaids, and other whimsical creatures. Having studied at Holland College and graduated from two programs, Fundamental Arts and Video game Art and Animation, Allison is best known for her clean, colorful digital work. With a keen interest in developing character concepts, she also excels in storytelling. During many years in the art world, she has studied 3D modeling, video editing, graphic design, and her specialty: Digital Illustration. Creating custom works of art for people all over the world, Allison is also known as a local celebrity in the Convention world and LGBT community with her performance, costume, and personality that she puts on for events. In addition to animating “Story of the I’m Alone” for Penumbra Press, she has also designed and typeset an illustrated children’s book and an adult novel set during World War 2. Among her works in progress is a fully illustrated book to compliment the video animation.
LEAD DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER
John Flood Brief Bio
John Flood is the founding editor, publisher, and president of Northward Journal (A Quarterly of Northern Arts) and Penumbra Press. He is also a poet, a professor emeritus, a former radio host, a film producer, and a passionate advocate and spokesperson for family engagement in dementia care.
With a PhD in Arts Education from University of Toronto, Flood's primary focus in his writing & publishing, teaching & research is Northern and First Nations literature, art, and culture. He is the recipient of the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America for ongoing commitment to the publishing of source documents in Canadian art history, together with excellence of design. For a portion of the two-plus decades he was a full-time professor in his home town of Hearst, Ontario, his university was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest in the world. In fact, he was the entire Department of English.
The animation of Wade Hemsworth’s prohibition song, “The Story of the I’m Alone,” is an outgrowth of Flood's 1991 publication, The Songs of Wade Hemsworth, edited by Hugh Verrier, one of the film’s executive producers. Now living on a northern shore of the Atlantic Ocean, Flood is well-served by the tales of seafarers such as Jack Randell, captain of the I’m Alone rum-running schooner.
ILLUSTRATOR AND CARTOONIST
Peter Whalley Brief Bio
Peter Whalley was born in Brockville, Ontario, and attended Nova Scotia College of Art. After serving in the Second World War with the Canadian Merchant Marine, he worked as a humorist for various journals and magazines in the Montreal area. In the sixties and seventies he became well-known as an illustrator for Maclean’s and Weekend magazines, producing covers as well as cartoons of both a political and cultural nature. In addition to other collaborations with Wade Hemsworth, a nearby neighbour in Morin Heights, Québec, he collaborated with John Robert Colombo, Eric Nichol, and others. A previous winner at the International Salon of Caricature and Cartoon, he was inducted into the Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame in 2007.
COMPOSER AND PERFORMER
Wade Hemsworth Brief Bio
"I was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, a small city nestled some forty miles north of Lake Erie in the western portion of what was once called Upper Canada. Sweet and simple old airs such as "Go Tell Aunt Mary / Susie / Rhodie" or "Turkey in The Straw" were a natural heritage. The only French song we knew was "Alouette." It was not until the coming of World War II when I was shifted from home ground to war stations in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia that I first heard true, homegrown folksongs in modes and patterns which I had not known, and, of course, there was la chanson canadienne which I heard from my French speaking comrades. It was an enlightening time and I stress it here because, since then, traditional folk forms have been an ever-abiding source of interest and motive. But, of much more import, has been the ongoing interplay of musical lore and support that I have had with friends and co-musicians."
—Wade Hemsworth, from the CD jacket, The Songs of Wade Hemsworth