[1][4] Drawing inspiration from the bold colours of the Mexican artist Diego Rivera and from the heroic style of the American Thomas Hart Benton, the trio executed a series of large panels for a cabaret restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown and murals for a church.
[2] On Goranson’s trip to England in 1943, his ship, the 5,000-ton banana boat SS Tucurinca, was torpedoed south of Iceland.
The torpedo struck in the evening while Goranson was sketching, but the passengers and crew were rescued and taken to Glasgow, Scotland.
From July 1944 to spring of 1945, he painted scenes with the Tactical Air Force in Northwest Europe.
[2] The artist spent two years in Ottawa after the war, then, finding no work in Toronto, he went to New York where he ran a company which provided window displays for department stores such as Macy's and Gimbels.