By Joy Kraft
The Cincinnati Enquirer

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Tucked away in the new Cincinnati Wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum is a gem of another sort - a gift shop stocked with pottery, porcelain, books, toys and jewelry.

That doesn't mean you'll find reproductions of Rookwood pottery or E.& D. Kinsey silver pitchers or M. Louise McLaughlin glazed vases from the museum's collection. But you will be able to buy hand-glazed, wheel-thrown pottery by Ray Storer's Wilmington family - descendants of Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, founder of Rookwood Pottery - delicate Franz porcelain made in the Rookwood tradition and hand-made jewelry by contemporary artists (many local) that covers different periods of the collection, from 1803 to the present.

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"I tried to find merchandise that ties into the art in the Cincinnati Wing," says Debbie Molzberger, retail coordinator of the Cincinnati Art Museum. That included chasing down hard-to-locate books about exhibit artists Elizabeth Nourse, Edward Henry Potthast and Frank Duveneck, as well as kewpie dolls, paper dolls, tin toys - "what children were playing with during that time," she says.

Here's some of what you'll find in the new shop - along with posters, postcards, stationery and matte prints of original art in the wing.

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1. Franz Porcelain vase with underglaze decorating technique and sculptured wisteria motif is notable for its combination of traditional Chinese character with styling inspired by Art Nouveau designs in the tradition of Cincinnati's Rookwood Pottery. $90.

2. Years before Barbie and her bod came on the scene, America's favorite doll was the Kewpie designed by Rose O'Neill. This ceramic reproduction, $12, comes with a book of paper dolls about the original, $6.

3. Silk-covered butterfly album with inset of Robert Frederick Blum's "The Silk Merchant," $30, and coordinating dragonfly silk, velvet-lined soft-side box with zip closure by Goody Goody, $35.

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4. Miniature flowers are grown in the south of France, then dried, pressed and preserved in a resin-covered enameled Victorian pewter brooch by Chanille, $64.

5. Self-taught jewelry artist Julia Orwig of Norwood mixes contemporary and vintage beads in her original creations. Necklace of gold foil murano glass, carnelian beads, sterling Bali drops and beads, $65 (with earrings). Orwig will be at the gift shop noon-2 p.m. Saturday.

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6. Pottery Wheel kit with 2 pounds of clay, artist's tools, foot pedal, paint, brushes and project ideas from Curiosity Kits, $49.95.

7. Elizabeth Nourse, A Salon Career by native Cincinnatian Mary Alice Heekin Burke (Smithsonian Institution Press; $60) is one of the hard-to-find books about exhibit artists.

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8. Counting Crocodiles (Harcourt Brace; $7 and $16) by Cincinnati illustrator Will Hillenbrand and author Judy Sierra is a rhyming tale of a monkey yearning for a banana tree surrounded by crocs. Hillenbrand will be at the museum 2-4 p.m. Sunday.

Other museum shops

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Contemporary Arts Center: Those hunting for edgy decorative items for the home will find a new shopping spot in the first-floor gift shop of the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art on Sixth Street when it opens June 7. "Everything we sell has a function," says retail operations manager Marilyn Smith. It'll be stocked with "a-ha, I've never seen anything like it pieces" from designers including Jonathan Adler's vases and hand-loomed pillows, Juliska hand-blown glass and Chilewich totes, floormats, tablemats and textiles. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday and Thursday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays. 345-8431.

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Taft Museum of Art: The gift shop for the Pike Street museum, which is closed for renovation, plans to open in January in the new building next to the museum cafe with 50 percent more space, saysTreva Lambing, museum store buyer. She promises more - and better - books and lots of "grandma gifts" that she describes as educational kits and toys that parents might pass on but grandmas would willingly buy. Meanwhile, the shop is open at Taftmuseum.org with jewelry, ties, scarves, books, finger puppets, posters and books.

Cincinnati Museum Center Shops: From Flying Pig cookie cutters to gummy dinos and a hand-painted Civil War chess set (in keeping with the current Liberty on the Border exhibit), the gift shop has educational, collectible and just plain fun-for-kids gifts. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. 287-7022; Web site.

Cincinnati Fire Museum Shop: The 1907 firehouse museum gift shop has books, coloring books, firefighter hats, stuffed animals, fire trucks, firefighter dolls and memorabilia connected to firefighting plus special 150th anniversary T-shirts marking the establishment of the Cincinnati firefighter unit. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, noon- 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 621-5553.

Behringer-Crawford Museum: The Devou Park museum's shop specializes in Northern Kentucky history publications, with prints, minerals, kids' toys and gifts. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. (859) 491-4003.

Museum Web connection: Treva Lambing of the Taft Museum of Art recently put together a Web site with information on Tristate museums and groups. A trip to this Web site will give you a rundown on the museums, including hours, admission and some gift shop links for:

Behringer-Crawford Museum
Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption
Christ Church Cathedral
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Fire Museum
Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati Nature Center
Greater Loveland Historical Society
Greater Milford Area Historical Society
Hamilton County Park District
Taft Museum of Art
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County