Huntington Quarterly Autumn 2022

books and calendars, even kitchen items like coasters and trivets.We really want to highlight our West Virginia artists and companies.” There is also a wall filled with stickers, prints and books dedicated to cryptids such as the Mothman. “That’s ourWestVirginia myths and history section; we highlight it for our visiting guests, but we also know that locals love it as well,” Klover pointed out. “We’re also getting things in that are skew ing younger because that’s what we need; we want to get those folks here and visiting the museum regularly.” Guests can visit the Museum Store for free at any time during the museum’s open hours —Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,Wednesday Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. A website, hmoastore.com, has been launched for online shoppers, and shipping is available. “We also have gift cards and can make personalized gift baskets,” Klover added. “Our big day this holiday sea son is Museum Store Sunday; it is the same shopping weekend of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday,” Klover said. “We’re go ing to be open extended hours on Sunday — from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and there will be free museum admission, discounts and a raffle. We’re also going to have artists present from noon to 4 p.m. so you can buy directly from local artisans as well. It’s going to be a big day.”

Browsing the Museum Store shelves, guests can find museum exclusives including branded pens, magnets, books, clothing and accessories.

including items with axolotls and the poison dart tree frogs on them. We’re getting a sticker made with the corpse flower image, and we have things that have monarch but terflies on them for our Monarch Watch Project,” Klover said. While not every item directly relates to an exhibition or collec tion within the museum, the items all connect to themuseum’s mission as an advocate for the areas of art, education and nature. “We have so many unique items here,” Klover said. “We are sourcing

items fromas far away as France and the U.K.We have a lot of fair trade items, too, and we are constantly seeking out new things that have some sort of connection to either art or nature.” Of local interest are items revolving around artist Charley Harper, a West Virginia native known for his highly stylized works of wildlife. “We love Charley Harper,” Klover said. “We have a wide va riety of items by him— everything from bookmarks to notecards to

DAWN NOLAN is a freelance writer living in Huntington, West Virginia.

26

A U T U M N 2 0 2 2

H U N T I N G T O N Q U A R T E R L Y