Redesigned Clark Will Feature Expanded Shop

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — When you come to the Clark Art Institute to check out its new acquisitions, you can make some new acquisitions of your own as well.

In addition to everything else that has changed at the South Street museum this summer, the Clark's gift shop has a new location, a new look and a new line of products designed to complement the collection and, in some cases, the surroundings.

"We'll have a whole line of products designed specifically to represent the architecture of the building," said Rachelle Jones, museum shop manager and buyer at the Clark. "We'll have scarves and ties and bags ... using a grid pattern that mimics the grid pattern of the concrete blocks outside. It's a very discreet way to brand our product."

Jones has worked at the Clark for six years after spending five at North Adams' Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Like everyone else at the Clark, she is eagerly anticipating the July 4 grand reopening, and she was busy getting ready for the new shop in the lobby of the Tadao Ando-designed visitor and exhibition center.

"I think our fixtures are being delivered as we speak," she said last Thursday. "I'm hoping we can get in there the beginning of [this] week ... place product and get a sense of what it will look like."

Until this month, all Jones had to go on were architectural renderings of what the new shop would look like. One thing she does know for sure: The new space will be an improvement over the Clark's former store in the Manton Research Center.

"I think we'll have loads of light, and it will be so nice," Jones said. "The previous store was not lit as well. This one is very well planned out. ... The previous one had grown over time. It evolved from selling just post cards to books and jewelry and a variety of items.

"I feel like we did outgrow the space."

Now the Clark's retail operation has room to spread out. In addition to 1,200 square feet of retail space upstairs in the visitors center, Jones will have access to another 500 square feet of "pop up" space downstairs in August when "Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art" debuts. Plus, the clark will expand its well-loved book section to include satellite space back in the Manton.

All this, compared the 1,110 square feet total in the old location.

The Clark is taking advantage of the new space and the significant contribution of Ando -- the Pritzker Prize-winning architect behind the Stone Hill Center and the new visitors center -- by celebrating Japanese architecture and design in many of its shop offerings.

"What we're doing for the first time ever is to have a carefully curated section of Japanese-designed products," Jones said. "I went to Japan and found lovely things we'd like to have in our shop in a broad price range.

"We wanted to include Ando's Dream Chair, which you see in a slideshow on our page on the Clark's website."

The Clark has partnered with Tokyo's Yufuku Gallery to showcase eight porcelain vessels that will rotate on display in the shop throughout the summer.

The "Fragment Eternal" necklace, also featured on the Clark shop's web page, is the handiwork of Japanese-born artist Kayo Saito.

In addition, there are a number of items created for the Clark, some by Jones herself. That includes the clothing, notepads and pens that echo the architecture of the new Clark, as well as items that celebrate the museum's heritage.

"We'll feature new images on some of our products -- some of our paintings will be seen on our products in a new way," Jones said. "Images we haven't highlighted in the past will be highlighted with more custom products based on our collection."

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