Pat Boyer makes a series of emotional transitions each day while driving from her house in Haverford to her painting studio in Norristown.

First she'll stop at a little place in Bridgeport, usually for a salad. As she drives over the bridge in Norristown, she'll start to let go of everyday distractions like the stress of having to do laundry, of making doctors appointments, of planning dinner. By the tine she pulls into the parking lot of the Norristown Arts Building, her mind has almost drifted to the place where she sees shapes and color. Once at the studio, she'll make a cup of tea. Only then Boyer is ready to sit down in front of her paintings.

She will select one of the eight works tacked up on the wall, look at it with fresh eyes, then mix her paints. Next she might stall awhile by reading a book or listening to music, a CD of Yo-Yo Ma or Verdi's "Requiem", which reminds her of the Spoleto Festival in Italy. When the mood strikes, she will begin. The work is her meditation, her coping mechanism.

She will dip her brush in a blend of outdoor acrylics and thinner, then apply it to the paper in quick, fluid strokes. Movement and energy are palpable in Boyer's creations, and they are important in her technique. If it's a smear she's looking for, she might use the side of her hand. If she wants a smudge, she will use her thumb. She may shift work from one painting to another, following her gut.

"I try to go to exactly where I am at the moment, where my nerve endings are the most acute", she says, paint dripping from the paper onto the floor. "I try to get in touch with that and get it out. I have to get myself to a point where I'm not thinking so much, where I can let it flow."

As Boyer lets it flow, an image of a structure begins to spin off the page. Though her body of work includes nudes, still life and landscapes, for the past four years, she has been working on a series of paintings of the Arena in Verona, which she has studied for the past 11 summers. Boyer sees the Arena as a metaphor for life and the space on the page as a metaphor for what she sees in her mind. "The Arena is an amphitheater for activity ranging from war and bloodshed to the marketplace, music and opera," says Boyer. "That's what the human psyche is."

Whether she's painting a realistic scene or an abstract image, Boyer's work stems from a sense of loneliness. She feels most connected to herself when she's painting. If she didn't have her art, she says, she'd go crazy.

Boyer's sense of disconnection comes from a vagabond upbringing. As a child, she traveled extensively with her parents in their trailer along the old Route 66.

 

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Sometimes the family would settle for a couple of years, but never long enough to put down roots. Boyer became an anxious child. She chewed her nails and developed trouble concentrating. Yet even as she became withdrawn, she saw the country, met unusual people and learned to share her father's passion for architecture. Though he was an optometrist, he would design and build the family's house wherever they settled. Boyer was looking at blueprints even as a small child.

Boyer coped with constant change through creativity. She could step outside of herself and observe people in a different way. "I did have a world of my own growing up. I was not moving with other siblings, and I didn't know people when I got there," says Boyer. "I had to invent my own world. I drew and I invented all sorts of theatrical shows. I created in a very loose way. But more than that, I had a fantasy world inside my head."

Like other kids her age, Boyer doodled in grade school, yet she never knew art could be a profession until she met a student from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. Through a summer painting class there, Boyer found a new outlet for her fantasies. For the first time she felt like she was at peace with herself. She likens the feeling to coming home for the first time.

By the end of the course, the school director offered her a scholarship. Boyer later graduated with a bachelor's of fine arts.

Since then she has exhibited at the Rockefeller Arts Center Gallery of the State University of New York and at several galleries in Italy, including Verona Galleria Scalarte, where her work is currently shown. She has clients at home and abroad. Main Liners have responded to Boyer's vision by displaying her work in their homes.

Boyer moved to the Main Line from Birmingham, Michigan, with her husband, a businessman, and their three children in 1986. Her young family kept her busy, but she made time whenever she could to work in a studio that she rented above Philadelphia's Italian Market. She also went back to school for a masters from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1996, with her children grown, she felt ready for new surroundings. She opened a space at the Norristown Arts Building and dedicated herself to art.

Any place with tall trees, gardens and a sense of roots gives her stability. The images - and the work itself - gives her the grounding she needs for emotional well being. She feels a strong need to connect with history, and the architecture of the Arena helps her make a link to her past. "It's interesting that I'm doing architectural shapes, something I wasn't totally conscious of", says Boyer. "I was always seeing structures being designed on blueprints all of my childhood."

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