Plan your visit to CLAY, offering a seasonal menu of fresh local fare in one of the city's most beautiful spaces. Try our newly-launched spring menu today!
See an extraordinary spectrum of contemporary works, including vessels, figurative sculpture, and abstract forms in The Diana Reitberger Collection, on display in our Modern and Contemporary Ceramics Gallery.
Our new kids clay camps now include earlier start times, art-filled field trips, and fresh new themes. Register now for a summer of creative hands-on fun!
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
* Optional $3 kiln firing fee. Firing takes 10 to 14 business days. Please add a $5 processing fee per group. ** Registration required, please fill out the form by clicking “Book a Visit” button below.
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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. Shaman’s Head (II), 2006, Gift of the Museum of Inuit Art G16.13.8
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