The Gardiner is now open from Thursday - Sunday, including free weekend admission! There's plenty of space to reconnect and amazing art to discover in all corners of the Museum. Clay Restaurant is still open Tuesday - Sunday. Reservations fill up fast, so book your table early. Please read our new health and safety policies before you 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 firing up the kilns again! Join us on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 - 3 pm for drop in clay classes in our pottery studios. We've reduced our class sizes to allow for safe physical distancing, and instituted new health and safety protocols. Registration opens online at 10 am on the morning of the class. We can't wait to see you back in the studios!
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Canadian ceramist Janet Macpherson is widely acclaimed for her technically complex use of slip-cast porcelain in the creation of intricate animal forms. Some are curious, hybrid creatures, often diminutive in scale, wrapped, bandaged or masked. Others are full-sized and true to life. In Macpherson’s bestiary, animals stand in for the complexity of human experience.
Janet Macpherson: A Canadian Bestiary is an unprecedented group of installations where the artist uses her unique visual language to convey a very personal view of Canada. Through four immersive installations that include sound design by Justin Haynes and Janet Macpherson, and video projections by Renée Lear, Macpherson revisits moments in Canadian history and questions commonly-held conceptions about the North, identity, and our relationship to landscape. This exhibition was commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
About the Artist
Janet Macpherson earned her Bachelor degree in philosophy from York University, and studied ceramics at Sheridan College. She holds an MFA with a focus on ceramics from The Ohio State University. Macpherson has received research and project grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, was named the winner of the 2013 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, and was nominated for the RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award in 2012. She was an artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre from 2011 to 2014 and recently completed an international residency at Zentrum fur Keramik in Berlin, Germany. Macpherson has shown her work extensively in Canada and the United States. She lives and works in Toronto.
Exhibition Programs & Events
All programs & events include exhibition admission.
Tuesday February 14, 7 – 8 pm In Conversation with Janet Macpherson Join Kelvin Browne (Executive Director & CEO) as he discusses A Canadian Bestiary with artist Janet Macpherson, video artist Renée Lear, and curator Karine Tsoumis. $15 General; $10 Gardiner Friends Learn more & get tickets
Wednesday February 15, 10 am – 6 pm Gardiner Friends Exclusive Preview Enjoy complimentary refreshments and a tour by curator Karine Tsoumis at 1 pm. Learn more & RSVP
Friday February 24, 7 – 9 pm Salon 21: R. Murray Schafer & the Natural World In partnership with Soundstreams, this musical event will explore notions of wilderness and soundscapes in conversation with artist Janet Macpherson and composer David Jaeger. Included with half-price admission. Free for Gardiner Friends Learn more & register
Monday February 27, 6:30 – 8 pm What Now: Thinking Through Canada 150 Presented in partnership with Canadian Art David Balzer, Editor-in-Chief at Canadian Art magazine explores the problems and opportunities surrounding Canada 150: an event that could, and should, be as much about the future as the past. $15 General; $10 Gardiner Friends Learn more & get tickets
Sunday March 19, 11 am – 4 pm Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Join us for a communal updating of Wikipedia entries on Canadian women, trans and/or gender non-conforming artists, scholars, and historians in art, craft, and design. The Edit-a-thon kicks off with a conversation on contemporary feminism, ceramics, and community featuring artists Janet Macpherson and Helen Cho, and moderated by curator Karine Tsoumis. Free registration
Saturday April 29, 9 am – 12 pm PiGEON Psycho-Geographic-ExcursION The growth of dense urban areas poses a threat to migratory birds. This birding walk will be follow by a DIY paracord-string crafting demonstration as a preventive tool for bird-window collision. PiGEON also includes a brown bag lunch and admission to Janet Macpherson: A Canadian Bestiary. $25 General; $20 Gardiner Friends Learn more & get tickets
Wednesday May 17, 7 – 10 pm Universe in a Glass: Film Screening and Q&A Presented in partnership with Toronto Animated Image Society and Subtle Technologies, this screening of animated shorts explores the interconnectedness of all living beings on our planet through water. It will be followed by a Q&A. $15 General; $10 Gardiner Friends and Toronto Animated Image Society Members. Free for Subtle Technologies pass holders. Learn more & get tickets
Presenting Sponsors Tom Kierans & Mary Janigan
Exhibition Partner
Official Paint Sponsor