Review

"Honey", Stitched Fabric.

Ginny Vineyard
Women's Work (Group Show)

11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Unit 5 Gallery
1920 Wyandotte
Kansas City, MO
816.841.5500

Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m Saturday, weekdays by appointment.

Runs through: Dec. 19

Gallery site: http://www.unit5gallery.com

Fun? Check.

Functional? In certain situations.

Ironic and just a bit subversive? Uh huh.

Ginny Vineyard, one of three featured artists (out of nine total) in the Women's Work group show at Unit 5 Gallery, offers a wall full of aprons ... and not the sort to be made when one is cleaning up a mess.

(Making one, maybe.)

They're short, flippy -- like Honey, pictured above -- and even ephemeral, in some cases. Therein lies the fun(ctionality) ... and the irony.

This is women's work, after all. It's work by a woman. (All of the artists in the show are female, hence one reason for its title. The roster also includes Meredith Host, Holly Stewart, Lizzie Drake, Anne Lloyd du Pont, Genevieve Flynn, Scarlett Garnet, Gabrielle Oppenheimer and Sun Smith-Foret.)

So if the aprons appeal to the visual for other than purely artistic reasons ... well, it's because a woman -- and not a man dictating This is sexy. You should wear it. Because I said so, that's why -- made them that way.

Combine that with the fact that the other artists also work in soft goods and jewelry, both stereotypical "feminine" pursuits, and a larger picture begins to emerge -- one that also has to do with the title Women's Work.

Fifty years ago, a show such as this with a title such as this wouldn't have raised any questions. It would have been an acceptance of the idea that Women should confine themselves to making things that are pretty and useful, especially if those things make women prettier and more useful.

Women have won a great deal of creative freedom since then, and that's a good thing. One of those freedoms is that of choosing, if one wishes, to pursue "traditional" gender roles in art -- not because it's expected, but because that's where an artist's talents and passions lie.

Vineyard's interests are matched by her talent. Her aprons are colorful, carefully composed and designed to be put to use. They are wearable art in the full senses of both words.

It's more proof that art can be playful, without losing any of its power.

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