Jason Shorr knows what it feels like to have a few hundred people in a gallery perusing his paintings, silently critiquing his talent.

The feeling will swell next week when Shorr's work is unveiled before a few thousand visitors alongside "BODIES ¿ The Exhibition," opening Monday at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.

Shorr's lifelong interest in anatomy has resulted in a collection of paintings compatible with the five-year traveling "BODIES" exhibit, which features about 20 preserved cadavers in various stages of dissection donated by the Chinese government.

The cadavers reflect all stages of life — including fetal development — and some of the specimens are arranged so that they are performing activities. Skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, urinary, and reproductive systems are also shown.

The exhibit opened in Tampa, Fla., in August 2005.

When he heard about the exhibit last August, the art teacher at Seneca Valley High School said he was instantly intrigued.

"It's a big deal for me; it's very exciting," said Shorr, whose parents bought him medical texts for Christmas and his birthday during childhood after he declared his intent to become a doctor.

Though his path eventually led to art rather than science, aspects of the human body are never far from Shorr's mind.

"I've always done medical-based artwork," he said.

"I call my work 'medically influenced fine art' because medical illustrators and creators of diagrams for textbooks are also artists, he said.

Some of his paintings are strictly anatomically correct, while others are given more artistic license, he said.

Family members suggested Shorr contact the science center and ask to be included in the "Bodies" exhibit.

"I thought 'Yeah right, like you can just call the Carnegie and have a show,'" he said.

But after an interview and portfolio review, science center administrators concluded his studies of the body through art and education would be a valuable addition.

"We were in the process of filling out the gallery and we wanted to do things 'Bodies'-related," said Ron Baillie, Carnegie Science Center chief program officer. "It really was perfect timing for us."

The 23 paintings on display, most of which are acrylic on canvas, were created in the past five to seven years, Shorr said.

The most recent, a self-portrait, was finished just days ago.

Shorr said "Fragmented Conclusion" is one of his favorites. It features sections of a face taken from an old Italian medical text. The idea revolves around the small steps taken to solve a problem in life.

Unknown to Shorr, several other specimens in the exhibit illustrating facial musculature also feature that face.

"It's amazingly relevant to the 'Bodies' exhibit," Baillie said.

Shorr's creativity was stretched not only to create the artwork, but to display them as well.

While he was initially told his paintings would hang on a long wall in the hallway leading to the entrance of the exhibit in the science center's SportsWorks facility, the center ultimately commandeered the wall for greeting banners.

Shorr's solution was to suspend the paintings from the ceiling. Using steel I-beams and wire, the pieces hang back-to-back down the 70-foot hallway, visible to all from one end to the other.

"We thought that would really add a lot to our exhibit," Baillie said. "We're delighted to be able to show his work."

<B>WHAT: </B>Paintings by Jason Shorr, Seneca Valley High School art teacher, in conjunction with "BODIES ... The Exhibition"<B>WHEN: </B>Monday through May<B>WHERE:</B> Carnegie Science Center SportsWorks in Pittsburgh<B>COST: </B>Cost for nonmembers is $16 for children and $22 for adults. Member cost is $10 for children and $14 for adults. Group rates are available. Tickets are available at the center by calling 412-237-3400 or at www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/bodies<B>INFO: </B>Prints of Shorr's "Fragmented Conclusion" are available in the gift shop.