In accordance with the announcement by the provincial government, the Gardiner Museum has closed temporarily. The health and safety of our visitors, staff, and the wider community remains our top priority. We'll continue to provide you with engaging digital content to keep us connected while the galleries are closed.
During our temporary closure, we're posting exhibitions and selections from our collection online. Discover Inuit ceramics, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, pottery from the Ancient Americas, and more!
On Thursday May 27 at 1 pm, Chief Curator Sequoia Miller will be joined by Vancouver-based artist Gailan Ngan to discuss three of her artworks in connection to the theme “Materiality.” Ngan is known for her experimental and innovative sculptures, often arranged in playful vignettes. Register now!
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!
With the Museum closed temporarily, we need your support to continue to offer innovative and engaging exhibitions, programs, and community projects online, as well as plan for the future. Please consider making a donation to help us build community with clay.
Lobby Display
Today, Japanese clay art is experiencing one of the richest and most diverse periods in its long history. Throughout 2018, three lobby displays, curated by Joan B. Mirviss, an authority on Japanese ceramics and a New York City gallery owner for 40 years, will feature the work of ground-breaking Japanese ceramists who stand on the world stage, boldly asserting their independence, creativity, and technical genius.
For centuries in Japan, women were excluded from the male-dominated landscape of ceramic arts, restricted from taking apprenticeships, making ceramic vessels, or even participating in the firing process. However, with the advent of university programs and professional ceramic schools throughout Japan in the postwar era, women have been able to move past these gender-specific boundaries. Today, Japanese female masters of clay are the equals of their male contemporaries, as luminaries and independent creative talents.
Japan Now: Female Masters showcases the brilliant work of some of the most celebrated contemporary female ceramists of Japan. With their own sensibilities and without ties to specific regional or familial ceramic traditions, these artists have raised their nation’s ceramic arts to an entirely new level.
January 12 – April 22 Form + Function
June 7 – September 2 Surface
September 7 – January 13 Female Masters
Header image: Fujikasa Satoko, Hiten; Seraphim, 2016. Stoneware with white slip glaze. 23 1/4 x 25 1/8 x 17 3/4 in. On loan from the Diana Reitberger Collection