The 30-year evolution of Pat Barefoot's relationship to her art has moved from hobby to therapy to profession.

	Darrell Sapp/Post Gazette
	Pleasant Hills artist Pat Barefoot flips through her sketchbook on the second floor of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside, where her "Anatomy/Autonomy" exhibit in on display until March 14.

Barefoot, a former English teacher at West Mifflin High School, had been strictly a weekend artist before she was stricken with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a viral reaction that attacks the nervous system and leaves the victim paralyzed.

During her three-year recovery period, the artist's paintings and drawings progressed from a pastime to a form of physical and emotional therapy that helped her pull through the ordeal......

"I really threw myself into my art and I recovered by painting all the time," Barefoot recalled.

She continued to make art her top priority and her recreations of the human form have become widely shown all around the area. One exhibit, titled "Anatomy/Autonomy" is on view at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Fifth and Shady avenues in Shadyside.

"What is so great about Pat is the level of sophistication, the level of craftsmanship in her drawing," said Laura Domencic, an exhibit coordinator at the center.

Although Barefoot has become widely known as a "figure" or "anatomy" artist, Domencic insists that the label does not tell the whole story of this mother of three who has been married to her fourth-grade sweetheart for 37 years.

"It goes beyond just the depiction of the anatomy," she said. "There are a lot of personal takes as well."

The artist agrees, saying her work contains, "abstract elements, personal elements.".....

That claim would not be lost on any observer who comes into the gallery to view Barefoot's collection of drawings of the female anatomy, generally nude .

The first thing that strikes the viewer is the painting surface. The drawings, mainly in charcoal and pastels, live on what appears to be heavy paper, unframed and left ragged at the edges as if it had been carelessly ripped from a large roll. In some cases, it had been.

Other surfaces include wallpaper and a material known as gessoed board. The paintings run the gamut in size from 6 feet high and 4 feet wide to miniature size.

Next to catch a viewer's eye might be Barefoot's attempt to "look inside" the woman, to see beyond the flesh and blood, and into the soul. Various works in the exhibit depict a pregnant woman cradling the baby -- that is still inside her womb (and fully visible to the observer), and an "X- ray" showing the skeletal features of another woman's upper torso......

"The women you never forget have a deep staying power that is anything but superficial," Barefoot said......

That statement might well apply to the artist herself, whose work explores her own struggles and triumphs as well as the concerns of women in general.

Pat Barefoot's exhibit, "Anatomy/Autonomy" is on display until March 14 at The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Fifth and Shady avenues in Shadyside.