We've reopened with modified summer hours and free admission on weekends! There's plenty of space to reconnect and amazing art to discover in all corners of the Museum. Please read our new health and safety policies before your visit.
From sticky to crusty, pliable to powdery, and shaped to shapeless, clay’s ability to transform in real time is prompting a new generation of artists to explore the possibilities of this ancient material. RAW features new work by four artists who are pushing boundaries with unfired clay: Cassils, Magdolene Dykstra, Azza El Siddique, and Linda Swanson. See it now!
We're excited to introduce Clay Date, a new online art fundraiser in support of the Gardiner Museum and inspired by the special exhibition RAW. Presented by the Young Patron Circle's SMASH Committee, Clay Date will virtually unite a community of art enthusiasts and cultural philanthropists for an evening with artist Habiba El-Sayed.
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!
As we begin to welcome visitors back to the Gardiner, we need your support to continue offering innovative and engaging exhibitions, programs, and community projects on site and online. Make a donation and help us build community with clay.
Co-presented with Ken Moffatt, The Jack Layton Chair and Melanie Panitch, The Director of The Office of Social Innovation, Ryerson University; PEN Canada
FREE REGISTRATION
Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the student protests at Tiananmen Square, this culmination of the AWW Free School will feature an onstage conversation with journalists and activists reflecting on its impact. The panel will be introduced by Olivia Chow, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson and core member of the Toronto Association of Democracy in China, founded in May 1989 to support the student protest in Tiananmen Square and the movement for democratic reform in China. Joining Chow will be labour activist Winnie Ng alongside journalists Doug Saunders and Jan Wong, who covered the Tiananmen Massacre as a foreign correspondent in China for The Globe and Mail.
About the exhibition
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most influential artists and human rights activists, as well as one of China’s most formidable critics. Known for smashing conventions—and ceramics—with iconic works like Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, he upends the cultural traditions and materials of his native China.
This highly-anticipated and timely exhibition explores the breaking of boundaries, both physical and symbolic, and considers how the artist’s ceramic works form a basis for his ongoing exploration of urgent social justice themes, including immigration, freedom of speech, and the repression of dissent. Learn more
Presenting Sponsor
Exhibition Partners
PHIL LIND & ELLEN ROLAND
THE ROONEY FAMILY FOUNDATION
Media Partner
Programs Sponsor
ELEANOR & FRANCIS SHEN
AWW Free School Partners
AWW Free School Keynote Partner
Ai Weiwei – Study of Perspective, Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, 1995, gelatin silver photograph