129 Ways: For Mary To Marry

The year is 1964.

Mrs. Dunlap has instructed her home economics students to plan their ideal future by creating a “marital notebook.”

Sixteen-year-old Mary does just that, carefully clipping magazine images and typed instructions for her future as a wife and homemaker, including pages for the Engagement, the Shower, the Trousseau, the Hope Chest, the Marriage, the Honeymoon and the Home. With 52 pages of details —right down to her preferred bathroom scale (pink)— Mary receives an “A+” as well as her teacher’s highest compliment:

“The man who gets you for a wife will be very lucky!”

A Collaboration That Crossed 50 Years

Austin-based artist Kristy Darnell Battani’s exhibit “129 Ways” has its genesis in the imagery and aspirations of a 1960s teenage girl (Mary) whose assigned Home Economics class project was to create a marital notebook— for a grade! More than 50 years later, that same notebook crossed paths with Battani who has reimagined the contents as layered, colorful, satirical paintings to challenge the female stereotypes that continue to permeate pop culture and media.

Battani uses discarded materials to explore outdated ideas. Distressing layers of found imagery and text along with paint and inks, Battani creates textile-inspired abstract paintings. “The Marry Project” began when Battani uncovered Mary’s 1964 workbook in an estate sale. Using Mary’s meticulously cut magazine images and typed wedding blueprint, Battani created a body of work that encourages the viewer to consider the absurdity of our historical expectations for young women in their roles as wives, mothers and citizens. The vintage 1960s imagery invokes on the surface a glib nostalgia that Battani hopes will provoke viewers to question their own views of women’s roles in our current society. The exhibit title is a shout out to the ever helpful 1958 McCall’s magazine feature article, “129 Ways To Get A Husband.”