Shop News

What the $@#* is going on in the Henry’s museum shop?
As many of you may remember, we bid a very fond adieu to Peter Miller at the Henry a year ago last May. We miss them. We’ve brainstormed and schemed and dreamed about possible uses for the space – and making the Henry’s lobby a more exciting, accomodating, and welcoming space. Meanwhile, artist Matthew Offenbacher approached the Henry with the aforementioned question, and a proposal. And he’s started his work already – the windows are changing by the hour and the energy and excitement he’s bringing into the museum are so totally welcome!

Welcome Matt and many, many thanks for having such good ideas and spending time with is here at the Henry!
We can’t wait to see how it goes.

Matthew Offenbacher. Study for The Gift Shop, 2009

The Gift Shop
August 27th – early 2010
With the open-minded spirit of experimentation you’ve come to expect from the Henry, we are excited to welcome visitors to the Henry with a new project that exemplifies the Henry’s goal to serve as a laboratory for new ideas.  Seattle-based Artist Matthew Offenbacher approached the Henry with a very basic question and statement “What is going on in the bookstore? I have an idea for that space!” What will happen over the next few months is yet to be seen.

“The Henry museum shop has been in deep hibernation since last year, an inaccessible space of institutional dreaming, a snoring lacuna in the museum’s lobby—but not for much longer. Beginning the last week in August this project will turn up the temperature, transforming the shop into a hot house, a catalyst, an incubator for Northwest artists. Exhibitions will fall like dominoes: a cascading cavalcade of adventurous, collaborative, celebratory artistic energy. How do artists work together? What can an art exhibition do? What is an audience? Who are you? What can we learn from each other? I hope you’ll join us.”
-Matthew Offenbacher