Staff Picks: Kelly's Favourite Gifts from Leeds Art Gallery
For our first Staff Picks article, we chatted with our Retail Assistant Kelly who has selected her favourite gifts from the Leeds Art Gallery shop. Kelly is a whizz at stock knowledge and is a gift shop connoisseur with a penchant for reading and a love of cats. These are the perfect recommendations for cat lovers, those looking for bookish gifts, and souvenirs inspired by our collections.
Over to Kelly...
First on my list is Poor Artists by Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad. In this book Quest Talukdar shares with us her relationship with art from childhood through to her professional career. By merging fiction with real interviews, this book portrays the emotional and financial struggles faced by many modern-day artists. A perfect blend of humour and charisma, I genuinely found it impossible to put down. Woven between chapters, the authors share accounts of key historical moments within the art world, proving to be an excellent starter book for individuals seeking to learn more about art history too. I took a lot from this book, in particular the realisation that we all need a Sheila in our lives.
As a lover of cats, stickers, and silly humour… one of these sticker books came home with me the day they were delivered into store. These cats live on my water bottle, my journal, my tv stand… they just make everything better. If cats aren’t your bag, we stock the Judgy Fish Sticker Book too.
AKA the most beautiful playing cards I have ever seen! I love getting these out at game nights with friends, making everyone jealous. They also double up as amazing colour swatches if you are seeking to redecorate or trying to find the perfect shade for an art piece.
So as an established cat loving reader, this really must come as no shock to you. We’ve been selling ARK leather bookmarks for a while now, and they are all so stunning. However, when these cat ones arrived, they instantly reminded me of my childhood cat Tiddles, naturally one had to come home with me! Available in lots of different styles, these ARK bookmarks are such a perfect gift for any bookworms you may know.
At Home a Portrait by Walter Crane is one of my favourite paintings in our collection, and definitively my favourite postcard we have to offer. Shockingly, I adore the cat in the corner as well as the beautiful colour palette used. Alternatively, if postcards are not your bag, our print on demand service with Magnolia Box allows you to print variations of your favourite art works from our permanent collection, catering to a mixture of mediums and sizes.
Finally, here are some of my honourable mentions:
Featuring a detail of ‘Iris’ by John Atkinson Grimshaw, these tote bags are stunning gallery souvenirs, and they’re high quality too!
These cat mugs by Magpie x Hornsea are a great way to brighten up and add some quirkiness to your mug collection.