Like many of you, we have been closely following the developments of COVID-19. The safety of our visitors, campers, staff, and volunteers is our top priority. Upon the advice of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, the Gardiner Museum will close temporarily effective Saturday March 14, 2020. We will continue to take guidance from our public health officials regarding the duration of the closure and will post updates to our website and social media channels as they become available. We are grateful for your support and thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to navigate this challenging time. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Gardiner soon.
The starting dates of our Spring Clay Classes will be delayed. Rest assured that no cancellation penalties will go into effect before the revised dates have been announced. We are working to develop a new schedule as quickly as possible and appreciate your understanding.
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!
Support the Gardiner's mission to champion clay, build community, and promote arts education. All of our memberships include a full year of free admission to the Museum, as well as discounts at CLAY Restaurant and the Gardiner Shop, and start and at just $30!
Ron Thom was one of Canada’s greatest architects, with enduring testaments to his genius, such as Massey College and Trent University, still among the country’s most admired buildings. But Ron Thom, like Frank Lloyd Wright and other architects of his generation, believed in creating not just a building for a client, but a whole world—from the landscaping to the interiors, and the furniture to the ceramics. This exhibition explores Ron Thom’s brilliant architecture in the context of his total aesthetic. Ron Thom and the Allied Arts is a travelling exhibition organized by the West Vancouver Museum in collaboration with Trent University and Massey College.
“Few architects have helped shape Canadian architecture as poetically as Ron Thom. From his early days as a west coast artist to his crowning achievements designing Massey College and Trent University, Ron Thom devoted himself to a profoundly holistic approach, wherein the fields of architecture, ceramics, visual arts, furniture and landscape formed a continuum. He was a fan of the Mingei folk craft movement, wherein potters and other artisans opting out of the industrial age found a higher beauty in the hand-made. Of this architect’s long and illustrious career, Ron Thom and the Allied Arts celebrates the most creatively fertile period, 1947 – 1972, with a focus on five west coast houses, Massey College, Trent University, and the ceramic and other arts that inform them. On display will be a selection of Ron Thom’s original paintings, prototypes for furniture and fittings, architectural drawings and sketches, archival and architectural photography, the original hand-rendered 1960 Massey College presentation boards, and the ceramics he commissioned as an integral component of it all. ”
– Adele Weder, Curator
Exhibition Programs & Events
Tuesday February 11, 7 – 8 pm Ron Thom and His Legacy Moderator: Adele Weder Panelists: Shawn Micallef, Larry Richards, and Brigitte Shim
Thursday February 27, 12 – 1:30 pm Lunch + Learn: The Changing Face of Modernism in Toronto Speaker: Shawn Micallef
Tuesday March 25, 6:30 – 8 pm Canadian Modern: The Allied Arts in Canada Speaker: Dr. Sandra Alfoldy
Friday March 28, 6 – 10 pm Mod Mad Party: A Bash Inspired by the Era of Mad Men
Thursday April 10, 6:30 – 8 pm Digitizing Contemporary Ceramics Speaker: Ezra Shales
Wednesday April 23, 6:30 – 8 pm Moxy, Monumentality and Ceramic Murals Speaker: Susan Surette