Many students and visitors have taken notice of the exterior remodel of the ASU Art Museum, but only a few have had the pleasure of seeing the gem inside. Masked by the construction, the Museum Store inside the ASU Art Museum has been quietly making itself over.
“The Museum Store has never been a typical kind of store,” says Natalie Carroll, the new ASU Art Museum coordinator. The store got a physical makeover but also a new direction -- a local direction. With renovations to the store layout complete the store will soon be offering local products: “We have been trying to listen to our customers who always ask about student or local work,” Carroll says.
“So many people from out of town visit the museum and we really wanted to display something that represents Arizona specifically,” Carroll says. The Museum Store mostly features jewelry but the products do not stop there.
“Usually the artist will be having a meeting with us to showcase their products and from there we pick which items would best fit the aesthetic of the store,” she says. From there, the artists generally work with the store about pricing in order to make sure they stay inside the store’s affordable price range.
Feb. 4 marked the beginning of the art museum’s First Saturdays for Families. This event is provided by the department of education as a way for children to learn and play at the museum. The museum and the Museum Store both use this event to further the process of creating a new, respected light for both the art museum and its store.
Carroll says the Museum Store has connected with the museum’s direction: trying to distinguish itself in the ASU community. The store itself, though, is trying to divine its own interior identity. The new marketing campaign for the actual art museum and the renovation of the store are merely a “coincidence,” Carroll says.
Carroll, an ASU alumnus, says even she didn’t fully know what the ASU Art Museum had to offer. She is certain, though, that the changes will bring in more customers simply because they feature new people, products and ideas that have a direct story behind them. She is hopeful that this new direction will create a closer bond between artists and their communities and also help the ASU Art Museum become more a prominent figure in ASU’s culture.
If students, alumni or local artists are interested in selling their work at the Museum Store, they can contact Natalie M. Carroll at nsaenz@mainex1.asu.edu
Reach the reporter at mnschwab@asu.edu
