Deborah Caiola's Reclamation (2005, oil on panel) is a portrait of teacher and choir director Mother Anna Brown.

Deborah Caiola and Sharon Ravitch were side by side, changing their children's diapers, when they decided to start a project about their foremothers. They wondered what women their age a generation or two ago would have done had they grown up in a different time and had opportunities outside marriage and home—and what they did choose to do when society caught up.

"Unexpected Transitions: From Wearing Girdles to Burning Bras," a multimedia exhibition opening this month at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, is the result of two years of work by Caiola, a painter, and Ravitch, an anthropologist. The project profiles 11 women born in the 1930s and 1940s who came of age before feminism, and who came of age all over again in their 40s and 50s when it arrived. The women, from all over the country and from all economic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, have powerful stories. Some are close to Caiola and Ravitch and others are well known in Philly and beyond.

"There was a feeling that there was a consequence if they went against patriarchal confines," says Caiola. One of her subjects said that at that time "you could be a secretary or a teacher," and, the woman thought, "Well, I'm not pretty enough to be a secretary, so I guess I'll be a teacher." Says Caiola, "They did what their mothers told them they could do."

Caiola circumscribes Lily Yeh in a twilight-blue circle on a crimson ground, her calm, round face the center of the painting, echoed by the moon behind her. The Chinese-born Yeh, founder of the Village of Arts and Humanities, arrived here at 22 to study painting at Penn. Besides raising a son, Yeh's spoken at international conferences about community transformation.

Teacher, choir director and all-around spiritual minister Mother Anna Brown, resplendent in a bold orange-and-green palette, smiles at us. Birds fly out from a cage behind her and ripe pears tip over in the foreground. Caiola is fascinated with visual anthropology, and symbolism runs deep in her portraits. Local artist Vida Vida has spindly black spiders crawling around her bare feet, a reference to her childhood collection, and the Chinese symbol for transitioning into a new life.

The other women profiled include Marni Sweet, foun-der of West Philadelphia's progressive Parent-Infant Center; Leezee Scott Porter, mother of a childhood friend of Caiola's who took the girls to Reagan's inauguration wearing ERA buttons; Gloria Gay, who works with the Penn Women's Center; Terry Masino, owner of South Philly's RoseLena's restaurant; Cuban-American Ada Bello, who became a chemist when women in science were almost unheard of; and finally, Ravitch's mother, Arline Ravitch, Caiola's mother, Stephanie Bower, and her stepmother, Sally Collier.

Caiola and Ravitch conducted interviews with each woman; they also brought them all together for a group interview. "Having them all in one room was amazing," says Caiola. "The only thing in common was their age, but they had so much respect for each other and a willingness to hear each other's stories. They really related to each other."

Corwin Smith videotaped and Jorge Cousineau audiotaped interviews with the women, and this material will supplement the exhibition. Next to each portrait, gallery visitors can listen to MP3s of the women talking about their lives; better yet, all 11 women are attending Friday's opening. Caiola and Ravitch's work, which they're reproducing in a book, has been endlessly revealing about social mores, and Caiola's anecdotes about her subjects even more so. "Vida had a very obvious talent for art and her mother said, "Maybe you can be a table decorator,'" says Caiola incredulously. "Now she's a full professor of art."

Opening reception Fri., May 5, 6-8:30 p.m., exhibit through May 27, 709 Walnut St., 215-413-8893, www.mayerartconsultants.com.

A skull umbrella, a chubby Peter Pan and a series of skateboards featuring dead rappers are just some of the trippy things that come from the mind of San Francisco artist Jeremy Fish. "Folklore," a solo show of Fish's work, appears at Space 1026 this month. Opening reception Fri., May 5, 7-11 p.m., exhibit through May 27, Space 1026, 1026 Arch St., 215-574-7630, www.space1026.com. … Alan Kolc was trained as a painter at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, but is now known for his portrait photography. At B Square this month, he focuses on KineticArchitecture, a dance troupe, to capture their sinuous bodies in motion; they'll perform at the opening. Opening reception Sat., May 20, 4-9 p.m., exhibit through July 29, B Square Gallery, 614 S. Ninth St., 215-625-0692, www.inliquid.com.