Holiday shoppers looking this week for last-minute gifts for the creative individuals in their lives can find reprieve in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena neighborhood, where museums and galleries sell a wide range of items inspired by their exhibitions and artists.
Employees of these cultural institutions clustered in the neighborhood say the books, puzzles, do-it-yourself kits and other wares are especially important revenue sources during the holidays, while offering patrons a tangible reminder of their visit.
“It is a beautiful thing to be able to share the art of bookbinding with our guests through the shop,” said Alexandra Sarette, programs manager at the American Bookbinders Museum.
Yerba Buena is home to some of The City’s most renowned cultural institutions, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Children’s Creativity Museum and Museum of the African Diaspora. The American Bookbinders Museum, Berggruen Gallery and Crown Point Press also reside in the area, and these smaller establishments rely on their retail offerings to help support their work.
The American Bookbinding Museum originally opened in 2009 before moving to Clementina Street in 2015. It is dedicated to bookbinding, a trade that involves taking printed sheets and affixing them inside a cover to make a book, and offers self-guided and docent-led tours. The latter include hands-on bookbinding demonstrations
Ten years ago, the shop was “very much in its infancy,” executive director Anita Engles said, only carrying branded merchandise and selected books when it first opened. Now, the store supports local artists by selling their works, which Engles said include handbound journals, marbled paper featuring intricate patterns and items made with the letterpress printing technique.
During this time of year, she says it is common to see a few visitors inside picking up a special gift, like stationery or greeting cards.
“Working with artists is one of my greatest job joys,” Engles said. “They inspire me to continue working in book arts.”
The Berggruen Gallery has displayed collectible paintings, drawings, sculptures and other works in its Hawthorne Street space for the past eight years. Today, art dealer John Berggruen’s space sells publications, such as books or posters, tied to the gallery’s artworks and exhibitions that are available to the collectors and art enthusiasts visiting the gallery.
It has been “a great pleasure” to produce the accompanying artist books, Berggruen said.
To coincide with the Radiant City exhibition on contemporary artist Lucy Williams running through next month, the gallery published a hardcover, 263-page monograph highlighting a decade of the British talent’s work. Williams has spent time visiting The City, taking part in her exhibition's October opening. Williams was interviewed last month from her studio in England, while a museum curator spoke at the gallery as part of an artist conversation.
In-person events combined with the gallery’s retail offerings create “a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the brilliant artistic visions that shape each unique exhibition we host,” Berggruen said.
Down the block from the Berggruen Gallery, Crown Press Point’s store sells handmade sketchbooks, one-of-a-kind postcards, printmaking tools and artists books. Discarded scraps of printed paper have also been repurposed into handmade paper ornaments, a move that publications coordinator Sasha Baguskas said happened “just in time for the holidays.”
Current shop items celebrate Hilary Pecis, a Los Angeles painter who worked in the institution’s studio this past fall to create a new etching entitled “Geraniums and Camellias.” The work, which is Pecis’ second etching at the studio, will be on view through next month as part of “Color: A Group Exhibition,” which showcases etchings from 16 total artists.
Baguskas said whether someone is swinging by to view an exhibition or window shop at the store, she hopes they will “find something that makes a connection between the art and their experience of visiting” any of the neighborhood’s cultural institutions.
