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!
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.
Ceramic creatures of liquid and bone stand motionless, guarding treasures of eras faded beyond recall. In those centuries predating the primacy of written language, the craftsmen were storytellers and the artists’ painterly sleight of hand embellished the spoils of nature for all to gaze at and wonder.
About the Artist
Drawing from the history of ceramics and craft, Nurielle Stern explores clay as a contemporary sculptural material throughout her multidisciplinary practice. Her sculptural objects and installations are informed by historical approaches to ornament, function and story-telling in the design of common objects. Through a re-imagining of the familiar, her work encourages the seeds of new narratives to take root.
While based in Toronto, Nurielle is currently an MFA Candidate in Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She has been awarded a Graduate Fellowship for her two-year course of study. Nurielle received her Bachelor’s in Fine Art degree (Sculpture and Installation) from OCAD University in 2007 and went on to study ceramics at the Sheridan School of Craft & Design (2009-12).
Nurielle has participated in several group exhibitions including FUSION’s Biennial Juried Exhibition at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery and the Art Gallery of Mississauga (2011) and the 17th Annual Juried Graduating Sculpture Student Exhibition at the Sculptors Society of Canada (2012) where she was the recipient of the Abraham & Malka Green Award. In her final year at Sheridan College she was awarded the Clifford Scholarship and the 2012 Gardiner Museum Award.
Header Image: Nurielle Stern, Eyes of Metal and Agate, 2013, glazed ceramic