The Gardiner Museum is open seven days a week. Explore our permanent collection, discover special exhibitions, get hands-on with clay in our studios, dine, shop, and more.
Enter an immersive world created by Montreal-based artist Karine Giboulo, brought to life by over 500 miniature polymer clay figures that tell stories about our most urgent social issues, from the pandemic to the climate crisis. It will delight visitors of all ages!
Registration for our popular March Break camps opens to Gardiner Friends on January 23 and to the general public on January 25. From March 13 - 17, kids and teens can explore the Museum and get creative with clay in our pottery studios!
Experience the Gardiner's world-renowned collection, in person and online. From Chinese porcelain to contemporary Canadian ceramics, discover the people and histories behind the objects.
Everyone can love clay! Become a Gardiner Friend and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited admission, advanced clay class registration, invitations to exhibition previews and special events, discounts on lectures and classes, and more.
As Canada’s national ceramics museum, the Gardiner Museum is dedicated to celebrating Canadian artists and their work.
The collection brings together work by ceramic artists from across the country from the 1950s to the present. The field of contemporary Canadian ceramics today is rich and varied. The current generation of ceramicists takes the medium in multiple directions. In their work, they show consciousness of history and popular culture, use the medium to tell stories, and borrow from industrial techniques such as transfer-printing and mould making. Clay is also used for sculpture and in multimedia work.
The Gardiner Museum’s holdings of contemporary Canadian ceramics were greatly enhanced by important gifts by Raphael Yu. It has been further enriched by works given by Léopold L. Foulem, Helen Gardiner, Aaron Milrad, Diana Reitberger, Brian Wilks, as well as from other donors. Many artists have also given works.
The Raphael Yu Centre of Canadian Ceramics was established as a virtual destination under which all activity related to Canadian Ceramic art is documented.
1. Greg Payce (b.1956), Apparently (detail), c.1999, Purchased with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, G04.19.1; Gift of the Artist, G05.13.1. Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
2. Greg Payce (b.1956), Apparently (detail), c.1999, Purchased with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, G04.19.1; Gift of the Artist, G05.13.1. Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid
3. Adrian Saxe (b.1943), D'Nile (detail), C.2004, Gift of Helen Gardiner and Frank Lloyd, G05.8.1a-c
4. Gertraud Möhwald (1929-2002), Head with a Dim of Hair (detail), 2002, Gif of Alan Mandell, G14.6.1a-b