Nancy Shaver's Beloved Store in Hudson to Close After 30 Years
For many, Henry is a lot more than just another Upstate New York antiques shop.
The artist Nancy Shaver’s store Henry, a beloved fixture of the antique world in Hudson, New York, for the past 25 years, is closing in mid-July. Henry is not just a store but a crucible for Shaver’s art-making. Her husband, the sculptor John Jackson, describes it as “a cornucopia of odd objects, shapes, and colors, a mirror of Nancy’s sculptural practice.”
Shaver, who considers Henry “my right arm, my left leg, my eye,” is philosophical about its closing, the result of her landlord’s needing his space back. “Small businesses are flowers of democracy,” she says. “And Henry has been my social life, my connection to the street. But change is part of an artist’s life, and Henry will be reinvented here and there as concise pop-ups, hopefully at art venues to remind the viewer that art is important at all levels.”
With its exuberance of objects and textiles, Henry flattens hierarchies between art and retail, and engages its shoppers —whether buyers or not — in demanding visual experiences. The first two pop-ups after the store closes will be at Pidgin in Oak Hill, New York, in October and at Parker Gallery in Los Angeles in November. In what follows, various friends of the store offer reflections on being there.
