Join us for a delicious three-course lunch while enjoying one of the best views in the city. Try our famous CLAY burger, ricotta gnudi, and more inspired local fare.
Join us for a full summer of free community programming inspired by the transformative power of clay. Four public projects explore how justice and pleasure can co-exist as counterpoints to calling out, gaslighting, and exhaustion. Register for free talks, clay workshops, and more!
There's still time to register for our popular clay camps, now with earlier start times, art-filled field trips, and fresh new themes. Sign up now for a week of hands-on creativity!
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!
Everyone can love clay! Become a Friend at one of the world’s great specialty museums and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited admission, invitations to exhibition previews and special events, discounts on lectures and clay classes, and more.
Rule Britannia! celebrates the union of artistry and craft that symbolizes and captures the social history, ingenuity, aspirations, and sensibilities of one of the world’s greatest empires.
Examining significant moments in the development of iconic British potteries, Rule Britannia! documents their emergence in the late 17th century to their domination of the world market in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Exhibition Programs & Events
Tuesday May 29, 5:30 – 7 pm Exclusive Patron Circle Members’ Opening Dr. Peter Kaellgren (Rule Britannia! curator) and Rachel Gotlieb (Connections curator) will lead tours of their exhibitions at 5:30 pm followed by a cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres prepared by Jamie Kennedy Kitchens. Opening remarks will be made at 6:30 pm by British Consul General Jonathan Dart.
Wednesday May 30 Members’ Preview Day Members enjoy unlimited guest privileges. Plan to visit the exhibition and bring your friends on this day during regular Museum hours (10 am – 6 pm). The exhibition curators will be in the galleries at 2 pm.
Wednesday May 30, 12 – 1:30 pm Members’ Preview Lunch Join exhibition (and Gardiner Museum) curators Dr. Peter Kaellgren and Rachel Gotlieb as they give an exclusive Members-only talk about Rule Britannia! The talk will be preceded by a British-inspired two-course meal by Jamie Kennedy Kitchens. $40
Tuesday June 12, 3 – 5 pm Royal and Other British Commemoratives Speaker: Dr. Peter Kaellgren, Interim Chief Curator After the Restoration in 1661, British potteries began producing chargers or large ornamental plates decorated with images of the King. This talk considers the expanding range of commemorative pieces and how they reflect their period and culture. $25 (includes tea) Tuesday June 19, 3 – 5 pm A Brief History of Tea Wares Speaker: Dr. Peter Kaellgren, Interim Chief Curator Since its introduction from China in the 1600s, tea has played a special role in British society. British potteries responded by producing teapots, tea cups and other utensils. Come learn about British tea wares from the late 1600s through to the present. $25 (includes tea) Tuesday June 26, 6:30 – 8 pm Crafting New Traditions: Synthesizing Craft and Industry from Royal Crown Derby Speaker: Ken Eastman, British ceramic artist In 2006, Ken Eastman, one of the acknowledged masters of the non-functional vessel in Britain, began working with the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company to develop new forms in bone china and discovering new ways of decoration. Ken will discuss his independent studio work as well as his collaboration with Royal Crown Derby. $15 General; $10 Members Supported by: The British Consulate-General, Toronto
Wednesday September 12, 6:30 – 8 pm British Ceramics Since 1946 Speaker: Rachel Gotlieb, Senior Curator An overview of recent developments in modern and contemporary British ceramics including the New British Ceramics Movement, the decline of the Staffordshire factories and the rise of postindustrial craft as well as the impact of the Turner Prize on contemporary ceramics. $15 General; $10 Members
Sponsored By Richard Rooney And Laura Dinner
Exhibition Design By PS Design