The Gardiner is thrilled to announce the launch of CLAY, an original in-house restaurant offering seasonal menus of fresh, local fare in collaboration with The Food Dudes.
Closing January 20! The Gardiner has reunited for the first time more than 350 objects from Sir William Van Horne’s exceptional collection of Japanese pottery alongside archival materials and stunning watercolours.
Kids can get creative in our popular March Break camps led by a professional potter. Register your child today for hand building or wheel throwing camp, where they'll learn how to sculpt and glaze their own works of art to take home.
The Gardiner Museum is among the few museums in the world focused on ceramics, and is one of the most important specialty museums internationally. It houses approximately 4,000 objects, including European porcelain, ceramics from the Ancient Americas, Chinese porcelain, Japanese porcelain, and contemporary ceramics. Search the collection online!
Everyone can love clay! Become a Friend at one of the world’s great specialty museums and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited admission, invitations to exhibition previews and special events, discounts on lectures and clay classes, and more.
Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Featured Exhibition
ARTIFACT by Deborah Samuel explores the narrative of transformation. While the individual images remain static, when the viewer moves, the photographs evolve in an almost cinematic manner. Viewed collectively and at a distance, the twelve 20 x 24 inch carbon pigment prints produce a planetary effect evoking ancient human cultures and mysterious celestial constructions. As the viewer gets closer, the images resolve into their essential materials: earthy, mineral matter within stone forms, ashes, and water. Ambiguous in scale, and sensual in tonality and texture, the stillness of the compositions in black and white renders these abstractions serenely minimalist. Installed on the first floor of the Gardiner Museum, the works are presented as a typological series, a continuous wall.
About the artist
Born in Vancouver, Deborah Samuel studied photography at Sheridan College. Known for her fashion photography and portraits of celebrities including Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Rush, and Queen Noor, Samuel’s work has appeared in GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Spin, and Entertainment Weekly. Her photographs are part of the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, Winnipeg Art Museum, and Santa Barbara Art Museum, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. Samuel’s recent work captures the beauty and mysteries of the natural world. She has published three books, Dog and Pup, a collection of canine portraits, and The Extraordinary Beauty of Birds: Designs, Patterns and Details. She currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
About the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
In recognition of the 150th anniversary of confederation, the Festival’s artistic vision focuses on Canada through a series of exhibitions, public installations and events. From documentary explorations of the nation’s shifting landscape and inhabitants, to projects that challenge perceptions of history and definitions of photography, CONTACT 2017 presents outstanding projects by established and emerging Canadian artists and curators.
CONTACT is the largest photography event in the world, and a premiere cultural experience in Canada, with over 1500 artists in 200 exhibitions and happenings throughout the month in the Greater Toronto Area. Founded in 1997, CONTACT is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to celebrating and fostering the art and profession of photography.
Image: Deborah Samuel, ARTIFACT.Matrix 126 (detail), 2016