Holiday Shopping? Try a Museum.

Creative shoppers can save Amazon and the department stores for another day. Instead, gift shops that are housed by Westchester’s local museums and arts organizations present opportunities for holiday shopping that results in one-of-a-kind memorable gifts. For arts lovers, it will be money well spent when proceeds support exhibitions, educational programs, and also artists. Here are some of ArtsWestchester’s picks:

All objects in the Museum Store at the Neuberger Museum of Art reflect themes from its on-view exhibitions. The store currently hosts products from Africa, representing countries that the museum displays in its collection. For instance, Ugandan women are empowered through the sale of their crafts since proceeds help to fund the education of them and their children.

Neuberger Museum of Art
735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase
Shop hours: Wed-Sun: 12-5pm

The Lyndhurst Museum Shop, located at its Welcome Center, offers an array of items that are unique to Lyndhurst, including seasonal and local merchandise. Woman’s apparel objects, along with items like scarves and handbags, include capes from RainCaper’s Fine Art Collection. Each hooded travel cape features original art from the world’s most prestigious museums, which is replicated on silky-soft reversible material.

Lyndhurst Mansion,
635 South Broadway, Tarrytown
Shop hours: Thurs- Mon: 10am-4pm

The Hudson River Scarf is one of many items highlighting “America’s First River” that are sold in Hudson River Museum’s shop. The scarf shows the length of the Hudson River from its widest point, Haverstraw Bay, to New York City and includes the Museum. The Shop also sells arts supplies, books, games, toys, Hudson River Museum merchandise, jewelry, home goods and items inspired by the Museum’s planetarium.

Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers
Shop hours: Wed-Sun: 12-5pm

From jewelry to home goods, the items at The Shop at ArtsWestchester are all created by Hudson Valley artists. One of those artists, Nicole Ann Hughes, owner of Nikita Fine Art, is primarily a photographer and acrylic artist, but her functional art covers serving utensils and trays, charcuterie boards and more with decorative ArtResin, which is food-safe and non-toxic.

ArtsWestchester,
31 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains
Shop hours: Mon-Fri: 10am-5pm, Sat 12-6pm

Clay Art Center sells the work of some of the nation’s premier potters. On their artist roster is Andrew Avakian, who hand-builds terracotta pieces inspired by architecture, historical ceramics, abstract painting and color theory. The layering of slips, underglazes and glazes, as well as the use of a sandblaster, make possible the varied and complex surfaces on Avakian’s vessels.

Clay Art Center,
40 Beech Street, Port Chester
or clayartcenter.org/shop
Shop hours: Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm

Pelham Art Center sells items by local and national artists all year. For instance, Rebecca Lockhart, a former English teacher who left her job at a NYC high school to pursue her passion in jewelry making, is influenced by modernist art and architecture, drawing inspiration from industrial objects and geometric forms.

Pelham Art Center,
155 Fifth Avenue, Pelham
Shop hours: Mon-Fri: 10am-5pm, Sat: 10am-4pm

The Rosen House Gift Shop at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts includes branded merchandise such as water bottles and sweatshirts, as well as a limited selection of handcrafted jewelry, scarves, and Rosen House-inspired items. In addition, there are two blends of Caramoor-inspired Adiagio teas: Walter and Lucie’s Concerto Green Rooibos Tea and Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea.

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts,
149 Girdle Ridge Rd, Katonah
Shop hours: Mon-Fri: 10-4pm

A version of this article first appeared in the December-January issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews.

About ArtsWestchester

For more than 50 years, ArtsWestchester has been the community’s connection to the arts. Founded in 1965, it is the largest private not-for-profit arts council in New York State. Its mission is to create an equitable, inclusive, vibrant and sustainable Westchester County in which the arts are integral to and integrated into every facet of life. ArtsWestchester provides programs and services that enrich the lives of everyone in Westchester County. ArtsWestchester helps fund concerts, exhibitions and plays through grants; brings artists into schools and community centers; advocates for the arts; and builds audiences through diverse marketing initiatives. In 1998, ArtsWestchester purchased the nine-story neo-classical bank building at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue which has since been transformed into a multi-use resource for artists, cultural organizations and the community. A two-story gallery is located on the first floor of ArtsWestchester’s historic building on Mamaroneck Avenue. artsw.org