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.
Lobby Display
“Having grown up surrounded by women who expertly sewed, crocheted, knitted, and quilted, I’ve sought my own way to participate in a textile tradition. I cut, mark, and pierce rigid clay as though it were cloth. Traditional quilting patterns like the ‘log cabin’—which allude to all that is light and dark in life, anchored by hearth and home—are purposefully integrated into my work. Through these patterns I can explore the entrenched symbolism as it pertains to my life: my work is the light, my anxieties are the dark, family is my anchor.”
Having grown up in a society and culture that often assigns shame and sloth to those suffering from mental health, Clarke’s recent work is an invitation to an open and honest discussion. After graduating from college, Clarke experienced the mental health issues that plague many young people. While initiatives like Open Minds, Healthy Minds, launched in June 2011, have begun to address mental health, it is only through constant discourse and action that society can continue to change.
About the Artist
Rhoni Clarke (b.1989) is from Orillia, Ontario. Originally planning a career in mathematics, she was drawn to clay after just one ceramic arts course. Rhoni graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee (BA 2011) and continued her practice at Sheridan College graduating in 2014. Rhoni is currently working for Scott Barnim Pottery in Dundas, Ontario, and living in Burlington.