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.
The Intermediate Area includes objects from the modern countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Works in the Gardiner Museum’s collection are mostly from chiefdoms located on the Pacific side of these countries although there are a few from the Atlantic watershed areas. Known for their ceramics, cultures from the Intermediate Area also worked extensively with a gold alloy known as Tumbaga. These objects span a time period of just under 2000 years, from about 200 BC to AD 1550.
Cultures include the Cocle, Nicoya, Diquis, Veraguas, and others.
The Intermediate Area ceramics were part of the original donation to the Museum given by George and Helen Gardiner.
1. Tetrapod Jaguar Effigy Vessel with Rattle Supports (detail), Costa Rica, Guanacaste, Nicoya Zone, Late Period VI 1200-1400, Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.147. Photographer: Melissa Shimmerman
2. Tetrapod Jaguar Effigy Vessel with Rattle Supports (detail), Costa Rica, Guanacaste, Nicoya Zone, Late Period VI 1200-1400, Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.147. Photographer: Melissa Shimmerman
3. Escavada Black on White Bowl (detail), Ancestral Pueblo Culture, Southern Colorado Plateau, USA, 950-1300, Gift of Ulli and Carol Rath on behalf of the Rath family, G14.10.4
4. Parrot Effigy Bottle with Double Chambers (detail), Salinar Culture, Peru, North Coast, Late Early Horizon 500-300 BCE, Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.159
5. Plate with Hieroglyphic Text (detail), Maya Culture, Guatemala, Uaxactun area, early late classsic period, 550-650, Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.120. Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid