PORTLAND — Mark Bessire didn’t have to look far when searching for a new manager of the store at the Portland Museum of Art.

The museum director found a perfect candidate right here in Portland, reaching out to retail entrepreneur and local arts advocate Sally Struever to take over the operation.

Additional Photos

Sally Streuver, the Portland Museum of Art’s new store manager, is stocking more work by Maine artists and authors. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Struever and her husband, Peter Eiermann, are the proprietors of Eli Phant, which specializes in locally and regionally handmade goods and accessories. They operated Eli Phant as a storefront in Portland’s East End for several years, but recently closed the physical location after Struever gave birth to their first child.

Eiermann now operates Eli Phant as an online shop (eli-phant.com), enabling Struever to bring her retail philosophy and experience to the museum store.

“Part of the museum’s strategic planning over the last year or two is to connect more with the arts community in Portland and throughout Maine. We want the store to be aligned with that vision,” said Struever, who began her museum job three weeks ago.

Toward that end, Struever is in the process of restocking the museum store with local items.

The PMA has always paid attention to local retail opportunities. Visitors will find jewelry by designer Julie Howison and glass pieces by Ben Coombs on the shelves.

Struever simply intends to add more emphasis to the Maine-made brand while discontinuing generic items that might be found in any museum shop.

“We will be phasing out jewelry that is not made by local artists and shifting the focus to tell the story of local makers and local vendors. We will include artist bios and artist cards, and that sort of thing,” she said. “We want to help tell their story through the museum store.”

Struever is talking to the folks at Chart Metal Works and Sea Bags, for instance, and the store will carry puppets by felt artist Mia Kanazawa, who lives Down East.

“We have a lot of children’s books and stuffed animals, and some classic children’s books too. But I want to refocus the kids’ section to emphasize Maine authors and illustrators, and creative play,” she said.

“I’ve been making these kinds of connections with artists from around Maine during my time at Eli Phant. Now I will be doing the same thing here at the museum.”

The changes will be phased in over the next few months, and will become especially apparent come fall and leading into the holiday shopping season.

This can only be good news for the local arts community, and probably for the museum too. Over time, the store has become increasingly important to the PMA’s financial operation, but likely remains a source of untapped potential.

Struever hasn’t been on the job long enough to come up with revenue goals or projections, but she knows enough to say that the past few years have seen a lot of ups and downs — not surprising, given the unstable economy.

She thinks an emphasis on Maine art and art makers will lead to more revenue and more interest in the museum store among consumers.

Her idea makes sense.

When people visit the Portland Museum of Art, they want to take a piece of Maine home with them.

There’s also a chance that local folks will begin to view the museum as a retail destination and a place to buy cool things made in Maine.

The local focus is good for the arts community as well. When it comes to Maine art, the museum is obviously a major player. To have the PMA backing local makers can only lead to more exposure.

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:

bkeyes@pressherald.com

Follow him on Twitter at:

twitter.com/pphbkeyes

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