In accordance with the announcement by the provincial government, the Gardiner Museum has closed temporarily, effective Monday November 23. While this news is difficult, the health and safety of our visitors, staff, and the wider community remains our top priority. We'll continue to provide you with engaging digital content to keep us connected while the galleries are closed.
During our temporary closure, we're posting exhibitions and selections from our collection online. Discover Inuit ceramics, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, pottery from the Ancient Americas, and more!
In accordance with instructions from the provincial government, the Museum closed to the public on Monday November 28 and we have cancelled all clay classes. We regret the inconvenience this may cause, but are hopeful that these actions will help maintain the health and safety of our communities. We will automatically be crediting students with a refund for remaining sessions.
Every object in our permanent collection can be accessed through our eMuseum portal. Learn about individual collecting areas, like Italian Maiolica or Modern and Contemporary Ceramics, or search the full collection by keyword. You'll be amazed by what you discover!
With the Museum closed temporarily, we need your support to continue to offer innovative and engaging exhibitions, programs, and community projects online, as well as plan for the future. Please consider making a donation to help us build community with clay.
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JANUARY 15, 2021
The Gardiner Museum seeks to commission a public artwork to honour the ongoing Indigenous presence on Turtle Island. As a museum that features the exhibition of ceramic art, the Gardiner is uniquely positioned to support a work that is both made from the earth and invokes Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the Natural World. On the Ancestral territory and gathering place of the Anishnaabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Petun, the Wendat and the treaty territory of Mississaugas of the Credit, this project may also acknowledge the connections among the many Indigenous communities this land has supported from time immemorial.
Please download and read the full application
Permanent Indigenous Artwork Following the City of Toronto’s leadership to advance Indigenous placemaking in the public realm, we propose the creation of a permanent artwork by an Indigenous artist on the Gardiner Museum’s plaza. This location will allow free public access to the work in the high traffic area of Queen’s Park, ensuring widespread visibility and engagement. As a ceramics museum, the Gardiner celebrates the material of the earth itself, making it an ideal location for a physical embodiment and recognition of Indigenous presence on the land. It is critical that the project speaks to both the general public and local and regional Indigenous communities.
Funding This project is funded primarily by a grant from ArtworxTO Year of Public Art, as well as a financial contribution by the Gardiner Museum.
Advisory Group An Advisory Group will work with the Gardiner Museum and guide the project, including the selection process and the eventual choice of the work to be installed on the Gardiner Museum plaza. The Advisory Group is chaired by Gardiner Board Member Kent Monkman and includes:
Project Description In keeping with the Gardiner’s mission to build community with clay, the commissioned artwork must be clay-based or involve a significant ceramic component. The artwork ideally should relate to the land and could, for instance, be installed in the plaza surface or on a wall with a direct relationship to the earth/land. The work could be a more traditional sculpture, but as such it must fit with the three other artworks on the plaza (two currently installed, one anticipated in spring 2020).
The artwork is an opportunity to recognize the history and ongoing Indigenous presence on Turtle Island. It can also represent a welcome to the Museum, and its placement can accentuate this aspect of the work. The work should explicitly communicate its content, so that viewers will readily recognize its function of representing, honouring, and evoking Indigenous communities’ presence on and relationship to the land.
Who Can Apply We welcome applications from Indigenous artists (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis). We ask applicants to identify Nations with which they affiliate. Applicants should also meet the criteria of a practicing artist as defined by the Canada Council for the Arts:
Artists may apply individually or can submit a collaborative team proposal.
Artists directly involved with the Gardiner Museum are welcome to participate.
Request for Expressions of Interest and Qualifications Interested artists are requested to please submit the following:
1. Letter of intention describing what interests you about this project (up to 1 page) 2. CV or narrative description of background, training, and artistic work (up to 5 pages) 3. Images of completed artworks or artistic projects, including title, date, materials, and site (up to 20 images total) 4. A signed Agreement to Propose and Consent Form
Please download and the full application
Please submit materials as a single digital PDF or hard copy packet. Complete submissions must be received by the Gardiner Museum by 5pm EST on January 15 in order to be considered. Incomplete submissions will be subject to disqualification. All submission materials will be retained by the Gardiner Museum.
Please submit proposals to: Digital: artworxto@gardinermuseum.on.ca Physical: Kent Monkman c/o Gardiner Museum 111 Queen’s Park Toronto, ON M5S 2C7
For questions, please contact Sequoia Miller Chief Curator, Gardiner Museum sequoia@gardinermuseum.on.ca 416.408.5072