The Gardiner Museum is open seven days a week! Explore our permanent collection, discover special exhibitions, and get hands-on with clay in our studios. We look forward to welcoming you.
Discover an installation of works by American artist Sharif Bey on now in our lobby. Bey's practice is influenced by African and Afro-diasporic aesthetic traditions, as well as ancient Andean ceramics and contemporary popular culture.
Summer will be here before you know it! Don't wait to sign up for the Gardiner's popular summer camps. New this year, all our week-long sessions are full-day multimedia camps, so kids can draw, paint, sculpt, and more.
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!
Help us continue to offer innovative and engaging exhibitions, programs, and community projects in person and online, as well as plan for the future. Please consider making a donation today.
Raw clay is emerging as a compelling medium for contemporary art, taking on new relevance as conversations around identity, visibility, and survival on our planet develop. From sticky and wet to dry and powdery, raw clay speaks to primal themes like the land, the body, and memory. Perhaps most significantly, clay reaffirms our essential connection to the earth. As digital screens come to dominate our vision and disconnect us from an increasingly threatened environment, clay takes on a critical role in resisting our withdrawal into the virtual.
Four new installations by leading artists working with unfired clay—Cassils, Magdolene Dykstra, Azza El Siddique, and Linda Swanson—invite you to discover new possibilities in an ancient medium. The artworks on display are all in flux and will transform throughout the exhibition.
The artists Cassils Magdolene Dykstra Azza El Siddique Linda Swanson Cassils CASSILS is a visual artist working in live performance, film, sound, sculpture and photography. They have achieved international recognition for a rigorous engagement with the body as a form of social sculpture. It is with sweat, blood, and sinew that Cassils constructs a visual critique around ideologies and histories. Cassils received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax (1997) and their Master of Fine Arts in Art and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (2002). Their work has been shown in exhibitions worldwide; solo exhibition venues include Perth Museum of Contemporary Art, Perth; Station Museum, Texas; and Ronald Feldman Gallery (NYC) and Trinity Square Video (Toronto). They have also received several awards, fellowships, and residencies, including support from the Canada Council for the Arts (2020), John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), and Creative Capital (2015). Cassils is a Villa Bellagio Rockefeller Foundation Fellow.
Programs and events
Up to and Including Their Limits SOLD OUT February 20, 7 pm Join the Gardiner for the world premiere of a new performance by Cassils.
Friends Day | RAW March 4, 10 am – 9 pm Gardiner Friends are invited to join us for an exclusive preview of the exhibition before it opens to the public.
Slow Art Day April 4, 1 – 2 pm Take part in Slow Art Day by contemplating RAW’s four multi-sensory installations. Participants will be invited to experience each work for 10 minutes, followed by a group discussion.
Earth Day April 22, 6:30 – 8 pm Celebrate Earth Day at the Museum by joining us in a free, family-friendly earth ball-making workshop.
Co-Presenting Sponsors
Paint Sponsor
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. canadacouncil.ca
Header image: Installation photo by Toni Hafkenscheid