Deborah Baronas

The Deborah Baronas exhibit at Van Vessem Gallery is a little bipolar. To the left, a collection of airy floral dresses and dyed vegetable drawings on gauzy cotton. To the right, a lot of military stuff: etched glass and charcoal drawings of paratroopers, laborers, and even a cartoonish rendering of that creepy machine gun-wielding bee that’s meant to represent naval construction. The show encompasses decades of the artist’s work, from her beginnings in RISD textiles to her recent public installation at the new veterans home, and as a result it’s a little much to take in, despite (or maybe even because of) the gallery’s relatively modest size.