Excerpt from DRAWN TOGETHER:
—
Available at Salmagundi West:
Julian Bowers
Why use seemingly unrelated vintage photographs as sources for a true crime story?
There is no end to the inspiration I get from looking at vintage photographs- through immersion comes awakened imagination.
The central characters in my graphic novel are real people but as I am doing an artistic interpretation of real events, I revel in the freedom to flesh out the central characters using old photos as a starting point.
There is no harm in imposing appearance and character on the brothers and sisters, so long as we regard this as a mere device for solidifying Will’s physical background. We are entitled to visualize him as a boy eating, singing and sleeping in the house on Henley Street, and its convenient to have him surrounded by something thicker than swathes of ectoplasm with name-tags.
– Anthony Burgess, Shakespeare
A great source for vintage photos in Vancouver BC is Salmagundi West
Molly- A Graphic Novel Trailer
Editor, cinematography: Julian Bowers
Writer, researcher, illustrator: Katarina Thorsen
Molly- a graphic novel and the 5-act structure. #showyourwork
I have been intuiting to structure Molly into 5 sections. I scratch on the back of books, in their margins, in my journal, on napkins…
It’s a fascinating process to try to organize the research and fit it all into pertaining sections.
My friend, writer Matt Roy, suggested I look into the 5-act structure of Shakespeare:
It’s proving to be very helpful:
—
Molly- A Graphic Novel Trailer
Editor, cinematography: Julian Bowers
Writer, researcher, illustrator: Katarina Thorsen
“Fear No Art” Documentary. A 20 year inquisition w. filmmaker Patti Henderson
I am so honored to be working with filmmaker Patti Henderson as we revisit a project started twenty years ago.
“Fear No Art” Documentary. A 20 year inquisition.
by Patti Henderson
The documentary will address protests that occurred back in 1991 and my reflections on my art 20+ years later. We are diving in now (with camera by Julian Bowers) and I LOVE working with Patti and witnessing her creative process. We are comrades in the feverish need to create.
Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purpose through him. As a human being he/she may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is “man” in a higher sense— he is “collective man”— one who carries and shapes the unconscious, psychic forms of mankind.
― C.G. Jung
For more on the protests go to:
20 years ago my art was protested
Post no bills: can free art change the world?
Stay tuned for NEXT STEPS!
This poem, this city, closing its doors, barricaded, almost empty… #graphicnovel #inspiration
9:09 in the morning,
the taste of liquor and cigarettes,
no police, no lovers, walking the streets,
this poem, this city, closing its doors,
barricaded, almost empty,
mournful without tears, aging without pity,
the hardrock mountains,
the ocean like a lavender flame,
a moon destitute of greatness,
a small music from broken windows …
a poem is a city, a poem is a nation,
a poem is the world …
Molly- A Graphic Novel Trailer
Editor, cinematography: Julian Bowers
Writer, researcher, illustrator: Katarina Thorsen
We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence. – Annie Dillard #graphicnovel #inspiration #forest
I long to fully immerse myself in Molly, to give the project the attention it needs. Yet at the same time, I suppose, I am fully immersed in it because I am infused with it, even when working on other things and just living my life. I trust the project has a life of its own. As I build the rest of my career I am feeding Molly, knowing that once I release the first instalment, I will be releasing it to a larger audience.
I think what I love most about working on my graphic novel- besides the fact that it is a Vancouver story that appeases my hunger for historical research and deduction- is that it forces me into the forest. The story begins in the forest so I often find myself in the forest, like yesterday afternoon, observing, listening, allowing.
No doubt, one of my favorite writers, Annie Dillard, teaches me how to be in the forest fully.
“I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what’s going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance.”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“Push it. examine all things intensely and relentlessly.”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence…”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Molly- A Graphic Novel Trailer
Editor, cinematography: Julian Bowers
Writer, researcher, illustrator: Katarina Thorsen
Molly- A Graphic Novel 2 minute trailer
Molly- A Graphic Novel Trailer
Editor, cinematography: Julian Bowers
Writer, researcher, illustrator: Katarina Thorsen
Face of the month collaboration with Global Model Scouting and @bypoststreet!
Introducing our new collaboration! Face of the Month with:
FACE OF THE MONTH
At the end of every month GMS will pick a “Face of the month” from the models on our site. This will be someone that we think stands out. What makes them stand out could be uniqueness, coolness, attitude or perhaps great personal charisma. The height and size is of no consequence.
[source]
First edition:
‘Sofie’
It’s a family affair!
GMS was founded by my best friend, Maud Kerzendörfer, from Stockholm, Sweden!
by post street is directed by my daughter, Anna Thorsen, and I am by post street‘s artist-in-residence! Anna is also a guest blogger for GMS!
Filming/editing of my creative process is provided by my son, Julian Bowers!
Stay tuned for new faces!
Alexander:
DOCUMENTARY: Drawn Together- Roar Thorsen’s Recovery through Art
Thanks to my backers on our Indiegogo campaign, Drawn Together, I was able to fund the making of the documentary short, Drawn Together: Roar Thorsen’s Recovery through Art, directed, edited and filmed by Julian Bowers. And I am honored to have original music created by J. Lastoria and Julian Bowers, members of the band, Sleuth.
I will forever be grateful for the extraordinary gift of being able to visit with my Dad by watching this video, hearing his voice.
Enjoy:
—
Be sure to check out SLEUTH:
The art is on the wall. Latest updates.
My daughter and I [wearing our by post street tees] as featured on the cover of WE Vancouver!
For complete article go to:
POST NO BILLS: CAN FREE ART CHANGE THE WORLD?
Anna is wearing “K” from by post street’s collection 1. Check out the making of the “K” portrait:
Video by Julian Bowers
—
Filming at THE WALL with Rami Mikhail of DREAMING IN THE RAIN
I love seeing changes on the wall by visitors!
New wheatpaste: Vivienne Westwood
Nina Hagen
Young Vivienne
With love and gratitude in my heart and soul, I say thank you to my parents…
With love and gratitude in my heart and soul, I say thank you to my parents and hello to our mutual dreams.
Missing them feels similar to claustrophobia sometimes. But the missing is infused with deep gratitude for the childhood and camaraderie they gave me.
In 2012, my father knew, before he died, that we had fulfilled our goal of creating a book, and I am eager to finally share Drawn Together with the world- just a few weeks from now!
My next book, Molly, is a project my mother was deeply passionate about and my parents and I researched Vancouver history together.
It’s a remarkable healing process for me to carry on “our work.”
There were so many epic, powerful, joyous, deep, difficult, wonderful experiences in 2012 but truly, for me, the best was watching my children living their dreams, traveling the world, pursuing their passions. I love being a mom.
A Lecture Upon the Shadow: an evening of collaboration on the #graphicnovel with @RickLegalPhotos and co.
A LECTURE UPON THE SHADOW.
by John Donne
December 3, 2012 was an evening of collaboration as Jocelyn Louise and Jay Fisher recreated 1947 and main characters from my graphic novel as they were photographed by the extraordinary photographer, Rick Legal, and as the entire process was documented by photographer and colleague, Nancy Kirkpatrick.
The book will include text, illustration, photography, street art, primary sources, documentation and collaboration.
I have been a fan of Rick Legal’ work for a long time and it is such an honor to have his work appear in my book. As I write this, he is in the process of editing his images. Here is a sneak peek:
—
**NEXT STEP: MIND MAPPING THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK**
—
Gratitude and other scenes from the ER. #DrawnTogether
Thanks to our backers and all our supporters for helping our Indiegogo campaign, Drawn Together!
WE REACHED OUR GOAL!
On Sunday, Dad got a chance to watch the documentary his grandson, Julian, made. He was very moved.
—
Unfortunately, Dad’s health has taken a turn for the worse as he battles bladder cancer. We spent Monday in the ER and here is Dad’s essay (he asked me to record the events):
When it came, the wreck left me alive. It flung me on the coast with a warning that what I had to look forward to now was no longer the maximum but the minimum with which I could begin my life afresh… I began to forget what life could not offer and to appreciate what it could…
– Frigyes Karinthy
Thank you family and friends for all your kind words on Monday on Facebook, on Twitter, on phone, in person!
Dad is back in his room and it’s all about making the moments the best and most comfortable they can be.
I am now going collect all the material into the manuscript! Our mindmap is the guide!
Thank you for supporting our project
Much love, Katarina and Roar
New minimalist work by Julian Bowers
These two new pieces by my son, Julian Bowers, are clean, quiet and peaceful, yet they still have the powerful and voracious exploration found in his previous work.
Stay tuned for a blog post on Julian’s band Sleuth, as they prep for their trip to New York!
