The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery is once again innovating in response to the reality of the pandemic with the official launch of the new online gift shop, a project that’s been in the works for a while.
Curator Jennifer McRorie has been hard at work with a generous, tech-savvy volunteer to create the new page for the MJMAG, which offers the option to shop for a number of items created by local Prairie artists while the physical MJMAG gift shop remains closed due to COVID-19.
The gift shop, located on the upper floor of the MJMAG, has been closed since the entire gallery shut its doors back in the spring, so McRorie was hoping to set up an alternate option for customers to purchase artwork by local artists.
“We were concerned about opening the gift shop at all because it's actually run by volunteers and so we didn’t want to put them at risk, but we also wanted to support local artists and artisans in helping to sell their work,” said McRorie, prior to the site’s launch.
The new online store went live on Oct. 3 and has listings for all of the works that would be on display if the physical MJMAG gift shop were open, including pottery from artists such as Rob Froese and Claude Morin, paintings by Laura Hamilton and Chris Wikman, glassware by Sue Hunchuk, and more.
McRorie hopes that moving into the online shopping sphere will help not only the artists in selling their work — especially in the fall, which is prime holiday shopping season — but also help get word out about the gift shop itself.
Normally, the MJMAG would have a chance to do both those things during the Moostletoe Studio Tours in October, as the gift shop is usually a stop on the map during the tours.
“We’ve always tried to have an artist of a couple of artists featured here, as a way to promote the professional artists here in our community and to possibly sell an item to someone when they come through,” said McRorie.
But this year, with the studio tours cancelled and the complications of the pandemic, the MJMAG had to look at a different approach to supporting artwork sales.
“(We want to) let people know that it's here, because it really is a great place to purchase local pottery and jewellery, and just support local artists,” said McRorie.
The online shop accepts credit cards and Paypal as payment, with the option for curbside pickup of orders at the MJMAG on Tuesdays or Fridays between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
McRorie says these are just the rollout features of the shop, as she and her volunteer are also working on the logistics of providing shipping for orders.
The MJMAG online gift shop can be found by visiting mjmag.ca and exploring the Gift Shop tab on the website.
