The word “feminist” might conjure up different images for different people. Some might visualize bra burning. Others might immediately conjure up the sight of Gloria Steinem and others of her ilk. Still others might imagine the different joys — and burdens — of being a woman in today’s society, defined by gender roles and rules.

The Gallery at Tacoma Community College explores many of these images, and more, in its upcoming show, Feminist Art Exhibition, which holds its artists’ reception tonight (March 12).

Jennifer Olson-Rudenko, director of the gallery and curator of this show, had several motives in mind when assembling this show. “We try to reflect the community we have,” she commented to me as she was working on the display of art in the show, giving me a sneak-peak preview. As this was my first visit to the gallery, I was pleased to see a bright, open, new (-er, the space is 6 years old) art-filled building.

The Gallery at TCC primarily serves as an educational resource for the college in addition to being a community gallery. The gallery shows quite a bit of faculty and Art Department works, but runs themed shows as well. This year’s Feminist Art Exhibition directly follows the Environmental Art Exhibition.

Sales are not the emphasis of the gallery, and themed shows are designed, in Olson-Rudenko’s words, to “connect art with the other disciplines of the college. The Gallery is like a library, it’s a resource that helps us explore ideas.” She added,“I think this show will create a dialogue.”

The multi-media show two years in the making features diversity. Artists — even including men! — ranging in age, experience, and vision bring a variety of media. There are Jean Tudor’s deceptively simply wrought silver cloisonné enamels depicting womanly metaphor and clergy wifehood, Traci Kelly’s assemblage of not-quite-birth-control pills, several artists’ ceramic titillating depiction of breasts, and Don Haggerty’s Cityscape painting deliberately hiding breasts, and various hand-crafted items. There is student-artist work showing metamorphosed tar-black breasts becoming tar-black steak (and broccoli) and professorial work (several art instructors from several schools are included) showing representational and abstract explorations of the theme. There is sugar (literally — Nancy Hathaway’s sugar-covered tools), and there is spice (figuratively, but you knew that). There’s film, there’s Jessica Spring and Chandler O’Leary’s letterpress, there’s photography, there’s even a microscope-slide box with fortune-cookie sayings. “There’s something for everybody,” Olson-Rudenko said, and I had to agree.

Topically, famous feminists like Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, and Lee Krasner (Jackson Pollack’s wife, just in case you didn’t know) are shown in 2D media, joined by self-portraits of some of the artists, some whimsical, some serious portraits of various famous women like Gaia, Venus, and even The Girl With the Pearl Earring. The last, serious character may have had a run-in with one female-oriented issue (unwanted pregnancy) and other pieces of art in the show explore various other reproductive issues. There’s some exploration of domestic violence, some bigger world-view exploration of women, and quite a bit of poking at the physical makeup of women, not to mention the implications of the domestic roles of women.

To keep things from feeling too scary-girlie for the squeamish, though, the show also explores issues of roles and rules in sometimes-whimsical ways.

You can look under the whimsy and get to some really good issues that help foster understanding, or you can smile, giggle, say “ooh!” or “ew” and walk away.

“I think everybody will leave here with something,” Gail E. Kelly, a museum worker and artists told me as I was about to leave, to chew on all the good stuff I had seen. “Maybe they’ll think about something they hate, maybe they’ll think about something they loved, or maybe they’ll think, ‘Oh! I’m not alone!’”

[The Gallery at Tacoma Community College, Feminist Art Exhibition, through May 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, free, 12th and Mildred, Tacoma, 253.460.4306]