Join à la Carte Kitchen Inc. at the Gardiner Bistro for lunch from Sunday to Friday in the third-floor Terrace Room with stunning views overlooking the city.
For the past thirty-five years, acclaimed Canadian artist Steven Heinemann has transformed the medium of ceramics in Canada. This major retrospective featuring more than 70 objects examines Heinemann’s fascinating and evolving process. Opens October 19!
Register for our new two-hour clay mindfulness workshops led by a registered art therapist. Through an open studio practice, participants will learn to focus their attention on the dance between breath and clay, awakening to the present moment.
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.
If you have a special project in mind or a theme you would like to pursue, please let us know and together we can design a museum visit just for you and your class.
Here is a list of the permanent collections:
Ancient Americas Gallery The culture and art of the ancient peoples of Mexico, Central and South America.
Italian Renaissance Maiolica 15th- and 16th–century earthenware, representing classical mythology, perspective, family life and other great themes.
English Delftware 17th- and 18th-century earthenware. Themes include early medicine, family life, history of the monarchy, the Great Fire of London, and the plague years.
Contemporary and Modern Gallery Canadian and international ceramics form the 20th and 21st centuries.
Chinese Porcelain Gallery The history of porcelain as it developed in Asia and its remarkable influence on the West.
Japanese Porcelain and Its Influence 17th-century Japanese porcelain and its stylistic influence on Europe.
European Porcelain The European response to the importation of Asian porcelain. Early scientific experiments, alchemy, the Enlightenment, centralism, baroque, and rococo. Collections include, Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Scent Bottles A wonderful collection of tiny receptacles for scent leads to a discussion on their themes, owners (including the French kings), and the reasons for wearing perfume.
English Porcelain 18th-century England and the continent. Themes include the influence of France and French style, the importance of nature, and its influence on embellishment.
Commedia dell’Arte Character figures from popular 16th-century Italian theatrical productions featuring Harlequin, Columbine, and Pierrot to name a few. Themes such as theatre, dining, politics, and dance.
This program is available as a half day.
This program is available as a full day.
Program Details
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1. Seated Drummer, Tala-Tonalá style Mexico, Jalisco 300 B.C. - A.D. 200 Earthenware with white on red slip paint Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.56
2. Carl Beam (Canadian, 1943-2005) The Whale of Our Being, c.2003 Earthenware with iron oxide decoration Museum Purchase, G03.9.1
3. The Monkey Orchestra Germany, Meissen, c. 1753–75 Hard-paste porcelain with overglaze enamels, gilding Modelled by Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706–1775) and Peter Reinicke (1711–1768) Mark: Crossed swords in underglaze blue Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.675