Drawn Together: Maintaining Connections and Navigating Life’s Challenges with Art – A Father Daughter Story
by Roar & Katarina Thorsen
About the Book
Families, caregivers, therapists and service providers are encouraged to use this book to connect with a family member, a patient, or a client. Drawn Together has been picked up for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation for use as a resource to families.
Drawn Together is a delightful father-daughter journey, beautifully illustrated with Roar Thorsen’s drawings. Roar’s art is the result of the encouragement and facilitation provided by his daughter, Katarina, to help him rebuild connections with the world after a debilitating stroke. Readers will be inspired to awaken to their own gifts and to facilitate expression in others.
Drawn Together has been picked up for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation for use as a resource to families. A Drawn Together workbook is planned as an accompanying resource.
“As I opened the pages of Drawn Together and held their journal pages, I could feel Roar and Katarina’s love in my hands, as well as the essential role and lifeline art served in their relationship and journey. A very beautiful legacy… on so many levels.”
— Gretchen Miller, Art Therapist
“Drawn Together is so beautiful and engaging and heartwarming and funny and poignant and beautiful to look at.”
— Pamela Post, Producer, CBC Radio One
“Thanks for your passion and filling my heart with love… so love your book!”
— Cheryl Bain, Recreational Therapy Director, Hawthorne Seniors Care Community
“Love, love, love your book. Reading, smiling, crying, enjoying. Envisioning the incredible success. The lives touched, hearts opened.”
— Laura Mack, Certified ALC Facilitator and Trainer, Authentic Leadership Global Inc. Conductor, Virtus
About the Author
Before his retirement, Roar Thorsen had a rich career in the forest industry as a mechanical engineer, specializing in design and consulting in Canada and throughout Scandinavia. An artist since childhood, Roar’s preferred medium is cartooning. He was his daughter’s first art teacher. Tragically, he passed away in early 2013.
Katarina Thorsen’s is an artist whose work can be found in international collections and her media include drawing, painting, street art, journaling, and crafts. She is currently working on a graphic novel based on her research into a historical Vancouver murder mystery.
Katarina works on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, BC, Canada, as an art therapist and youth coordinator. She is passionate about the therapeutic power of art.
MEDIA:
West Ender Vancouver (article)