A matter of artful picks
Get arty with your festive shopping at these art gallery and museum gift shops in Kuala Lumpur.
EVER wanted a cool T-shirt with pioneer Malaysian artist Anthony Lau’s classic Wild Bull (1962) stone sculpture printed on it?
Try the National Art Gallery in KL, you will be surprised by its range of art-related apparel, exhibition catalogues, wall art, stationery, and more.
And you keep hearing about Sabah printmaking collective Pangrok Sulap, but have no idea where to find its handmade woodcut prints. The well-curated Ilham Gallery gift shop is the place to sort you out.
Cartoonist Datuk Lat, we hear, is also quite a star at the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery museum shop, with an exclusive range of Lat merchandise available (sketchbooks to tote bags).
If art, culture and finding unique gifts are your thing, then these four museum and art gallery gift shops in KL might just be your new favourite hang-outs.
National Art Gallery gift shop bus
The National Art Gallery (NAG) isn’t too conventional when it comes to gift shops. That’s a good thing.
If you look right across the main entrance of NAG, you will spot a bright red bus parked on the kerb. This refurbished bus has been converted into the NAG gift shop, which opened late last year.
This “shop-in-a-bus” is the perfect place to seek out an exclusive NAG gift for that hard-to-please friend or to find something to brighten your own home.
There is a range of T-shirts, postcards, bags, posters and mugs that feature art from the gallery’s permanent collection, with a focus on Malaysian artists, including Anthony Lau, Khairul Azmir Soob (who goes by Meme), Romli Mahmud and Tan Wei Kheng, among others.
If you missed out on past art exhibits at the NAG, don’t worry. The shelves on the bus are filled with NAG exhibition catalogues and special publications.
A limited edition set of six stamps, issued by Pos Malaysia, to mark NAG’s 60th anniversary is another highlight. The stamp series features artists Yee I-Lann, Mustafa Haji Ibrahim, Sharul Anuar Shaari, Dzulkifli Buyong, Mohd Sallehuddin and colonial-era British artist William Samwell.
What’s new this month? The gift shop aims to be more craft-centric, so expect a brandnew selection of ceramic products and craft items from the Young Art Entrepreneurs programme which has run throughout the year at NAG. More info: (www.artgallery.gov.my).
Ilham Gallery gift shop
The Ilham Gallery gift shop carries a thoughtful selection of artwork, ceramics, glass, jewellery, clothing, and more, made by diverse Malaysian artists, designers and artisans.
Its strong local flavour includes products that incorporate traditional craft such as weaving, and also other artistic techniques such as woodcut prints, sketching and jewellery-making.
This is one of the few places in KL where you can get baskets woven by the Lun Bawang women from the Ba’Kelalan highlands of Sarawak.
Woven by hand, the baskets are fashioned out of plastic strips and trimmed with rattan harvested from the rainforests.
Colourful stools from The Malaysian Association of the Blind add some cheer to the collection. These stools are from the Malaysian Association of the Blind’s woodwork section, where the blind learn skills that can help them gain income.
Find gifts for any occasion, including puzzles, whimsical games and storybooks for children, and beautiful notecards.
Take your time to browse the collection of exhibition catalogues and books, including poetry, and titles on local history, and contemporary art.
There is also an affordable, localised version of the Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago (1960–1969) exhibition catalogue which is well worth the investigating.
The Ilham Gallery gift shop is also a place to have a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, or to attend workshops. More info: (www.ilhamgallery.com).
Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery museum shop
The Seni Cetakan: Seni Sepanjang Zaman (The Art Of Printmaking: Lasting Impressions) exhibition at Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery is definitely one of highlights of the year, and you can expect to pick up a series of collectibles from this exhibition.
Veteran artist Long Thien Shih’s Paris-era work Dead Souls Are Laughing At Us (etching, 1974) – on a tote bag or on a sketchbook – is most recommended. From mugs, stationery, exhibition catalogues and sketchbooks, there is a wide array of gifts produced exclusively for this museum shop. Cartoonist Datuk Lat’s Bank Negara-related merchandise will also leave a smile on your face.
If you are looking for souvenirs that clearly have Bank Negara written all over it, you will be spoilt for choice. The Five Charms keychains feature parts of banknotes, and come with an info card on how to identity real banknotes.
Elsewhere, the Balemark Series keychains are inspired by the copper coin currency issued in 1787 by the British after the empire set up a settlement in Penang.
Last but not least, there is a pewter replica of a kijang coin, plated with 24-carat gold, available at the shop.
Folklore has it that a 14th century queen of Kelantan was so fond of her pet kijang that she had coins minted with the kijang inscribed on one side. This barking deer found in the jungles of Malaysia found its way into the state crest of Kelantan in 1916. Bank Negara adopted its official logo and seal of the kijang in 1964. More info: (www. museumbnm.gov.my).
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia museum shop
The Museum Shop, located on the ground floor of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, offers Islamic crafts and artefacts from around the world, from SouthEast Asian woodwork to intricate jewellery from the Middle East.
The focus here is on the creative arts in the Islamic world. There are loads of stationery, household items, textile products, home decor and other accessories and souvenirs, which incorporate design elements that are based on artefacts from the museum’s collection.
Highlights include the Iznik pattern rice bowls, Orientalist paintings and contemporary Islamic calligraphy on tiles. The tiles borrow from the works of artists such as Fuad Kouchi Honda from Japan and Haji Noor Deen Mi Guan Jiang from China, paintings which have been displayed during special exhibitions at the IAMM.
There is a children’s section in this shop, where books, puzzles and other educational material emphasising Islamic knowledge and good manners are housed. Also, don’t forget to pick up IAMM’s classic souvenir T-shirt with Arabic alphabets on it. More info: (www.iamm.org.my).