Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

Real shoppers know museums are more than repositories of cultural exhibitions: museums, they know, make for excellent retail, and Philadelphia’s museums are no exception. With its amazingly dense array of distinguished, distinctive cultural centers, the Philadelphia area offers, by extension, seriously great shopping. In Philly, holiday shoppers can find Latin American folk furniture for sale near Old Masters. In Philly, nature ornaments inspire retail stampedes just steps from a trifecta of Wyeths. And only in Philly are slimy stocking stuffers up for the grabs just a few meters from the country’s most historic collection of medical oddities.
 

• Anatomical Stocking Stuffers, Siamese Shot Glasses and Curiously Creepy Books: The museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, also known as the Mütter, stocks goods that are as engrossingly gross as the site’s signature exhibitions of medical oddities. Stuff a boy’s stocking with squishy skull balls, skeleton and eyeball lollipops, plastic bone pens and “brain drain” candy ($2-$4 each). Wackily wonderful books—on anatomical curiosities and ancient medicine—are always a hit with strong-stomached medical buffs ($5-$70). The museum immortalizes Chang and Eng, the original Siamese conjoined twins, on an extra-large shot glass that reads “Make Mine a Double” ($7.50). 19 S. 22nd Street, (215) 563-3737, www.collphyphil.org
   
• Mexican Folk Art, Brazilian Furniture and Latin American Paintings: To commemorate the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s (PMA) new exhibition Tesoros/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 (September 20-December 31, 2006), the PMA’s gift shop is stocking work by living, breathing artisans of Central and South America. Look for colorful folk art, textiles, ironwork and jewelry from Mexico, native pottery from Nicaragua, tapestry from Bolivia and hand-painted wooden furniture from Brazil. Prices yet to be determined. 26th Street & the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (215) 763-8100, www.philamuseum.org

• Art-Driven Handbags, Cups and Saucers: Those impressed with Jorge Pardo’s stunning, lemon- and lime-striped entryway installation in The Fabric Workshop and Museum can take a bit home with them in the artist’s cup and saucer set ($35). In collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art, the museum is offering an eccentrically shaped, hand-silkscreened, sculptural canvas handbag featuring artist Betty Woodman’s abstract drawings, in limited edition ($225). 1315 Cherry Street, (215) 568-1111, www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org

• Modigliani Calendars and Art-Inspired Ornaments: Each year, The Barnes Foundation commissions a boutique European glass studio to blow and to hand-paint a tree ornament inspired by one of the museum’s best-loved works ($30-$40 per ornament). Two years ago, the shop sold out of Modigliani’s “Red-headed Woman;” last year, it was Van Gogh’s “Postman.” For 2006, Monet’s “Houseboat” is featured. Also for sale: 12 months of Modigliani ($13.99), the Arboretum’s homemade flower honey (one-pound jar for $7.50), and, for the patient problem solver, Monet’s “Houseboat” in 500-piece puzzle form ($15). 300 N. Latch’s Lane, Merion, (610) 667-0290, www.barnesfoundation.org

• Pretty Wooly Things: Portfolio, the recently moved and expanded shop at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is now a contemporary retail destination on its own. In addition to its prodigious line of giclée reproductions of more than 400 of the museum’s holdings (approximately $.35 per square inch), the boutique offers richly colored and patterned merino shawls, jackets and home accessories by Moksha (from $150), bright and retro felt handbags, ornaments and jewelry ($5-$30) and soft “Ragamuffin” creatures, mittens and scarves made of recycled sweaters (from $60). 128 N. Broad Street, (215) 972-7600, www.pafa.org

• Bucks County Jewelry and Pottery: The shops at the James A. Michener Art Museums (there are two of them) continue their namesake’s mission of promoting Bucks County artists. Among the stores’ stars are Doylestown potter Phil Henderson, who throws earthen vessels ($9.95-$49.95), and local metalsmith Sherry Tinsman, who shapes sterling silver, peridots, garnets, pearls and citrines into nature-inspired jewelry bearing dogwood blossoms and spirals ($18-$300). Also for sale: A virtual library of regional art books, including coffee table-worthy Pennsylvania Impressionists ($59.95). 138 S. Pine Street, Doylestown, (215) 340-9800; Union Square on Bridge Street, New Hope, (215) 862-7633, www.michenermuseum.org

• Wyeth Exclusives and Milkweed Tree Critters: On the heels of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s much lauded Andrew Wyeth: Memory and Magic exhibition, the Wyeth-centric Brandywine River Museum offers an inspired collection of books, prints, videos and notecards based on N.C.’s illustrations, Andrew’s landscapes and Jamie’s portraits. The book-chocked shop also plays host to shoppers who come each winter to snatch up more than 8,000 “critters,” tree ornaments the museum’s volunteers make from all manner of plant material gleaned from the Brandywine Valley. U.S. Route 1, Chadds Ford, (610) 388-2700, www.brandywinemuseum.org

• Butterfly Notecards, UFO Magnets, Rocks and Minerals: To celebrate its new Butterflies exhibition, the Academy of Natural Sciences’ gift shop is selling sleek boxes of notecards. Prices yet to be determined. Kids have long loved the store’s conical UFO magnets that stick together and make otherwordly sounds ($10). And always a hit are the little to big, common to unusual rocks and minerals with a price-friendly range ($1.25-$8.00). 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (215) 299-1000,www.acnatsci.org

• Culture Kits, Egyptian crafts and artifacts: As the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology celebrates its “Year of Egypt” among a maze of galleries, the museum’s shop honors Egyptian culture with exclusive reproductions of the museum’s own artifacts: four- to nearly two-foot resin casts of kneeling Tut, Amarna Princess, Amun and a scribe ($28-$260). Other new and notable wares include vegetable and herb “Nephyr” soaps, wooden boxes and stools inlaid with exotic wood and mother-of-pearl ($10-$400), and great “backpack sets,” assortments of toys, relics and tools representative of South America, Asia, Egypt and Africa ($25 each). 3260 South Street, (215) 898-4000, www.museum.upenn.edu

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside™ a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.
 

Contact(s):

• Caroline Bean, (215) 599-7433