This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Fascinating Medical Illustrations by Pat Thomas

The Oak Park Arms’ Narrow Gallery Art Club is having a wine and cheese reception to kick off an art exhibit featuring the works of medical illustrator Pat Thomas. The reception takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, April 8, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The works will be exhibited until May 8.

Pat Thomas is a familiar face at the Oak Park Arms. Her father, Leo Rich, is a resident, and last year Rich had his own Narrow Gallery exhibition of fine and commercial art.

With such talent in the family, it isn’t surprising Thomas has always had great skill. Ever since high school, she knew she wanted to be a medical illustrator. Her biology teacher noticed her drawing skills and interest of anatomy and suggested she attend the program in medical illustration at the University of Illinois Chicago.  The program combined illustration and design as well as medical coursework.

Her business, Pat Thomas Medical Illustration, was established in 1973. She has been the sole illustrator on a dozen medical texts and a contributing illustrator for a number of journal articles. For the past 20 years her primary work has been producing medical legal exhibits. She has worked both defense and plaintiff cases including many high profile trials resulting in multi-million dollar awards.

Thomas does all her illustration work digitally using Corel Painter™, Adobe Photoshop™ and Adobe Illustrator™, but computers don’t do all the work. The illustrations start with a pencil sketch and a blank screen. The computer only serves as a glorified paintbrush and does not draw the image. She creates the work in the same manner as a traditional painting by using line, form and color.

Thomas has earned and maintained the designation of Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI), which is a guarantee to clients that she maintains her studies in medicine and illustration. 

In 2006-2007, she served as president of the Association of Medical Illustrators. Previously, she was the association's secretary, chaired numerous committees and received the distinction of Fellow for her contributions. She also serves as an adjunct clinical assistant professor in Biomedical Visualization at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Thomas lives in Oak Park with her husband Greg who is an architect who enjoys restoration work. The couple has two married daughters - Stacy and Greer. Stacy is an industrial designer, and Greer is a graphic and interior designer. Both work at Chicago design firms.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay - a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The opening reception and the month-long exhibit are free and open to the public. For more information, call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?