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 exhibition of new work in our lobby by members of Inspirations Studio, a unique low-barrier ceramics program in Toronto for women and gender diverse people who have experienced marginalization.
Our Joy of Ceramics fundraiser returns on October 27, featuring a presentation by Sarah Milroy, Chief Curator at the McMichael Gallery, who will talk about a work by Shary Boyle, including its many meanings and her decision to donate it. This event sells out every year!
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.
2019 Gardiner Prize Winner
This lobby show features new work by Sami Tsang, the winner of the 2019 Gardiner Museum Prize, presented to a graduate of the Sheridan College Ceramics Program. The artist’s graphic, narrative sculptures negotiate her identity as a Canadian-born Chinese woman artist.
The Gardiner Museum’s Next Generation Program is made possible by Lead Supporter RBC Emerging Artists Project.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Growing up as the youngest child of a conservative Hong Kong family, my voice was not welcomed. The ability to speak soon faded away. I moved back to Canada at age 12, where the constant flux amidst Chinese and Western cultures created a series of traumatic issues. At 20, I began to resist my traditional role. Every day, I process my progress. I gather stories of domestic encounters and private narratives. I find relationships between these stories and the materials I use in my practice, such as clay, resin, rice paper and ballpoint pen. Is clay actually the old grump? Does making humorous sculpture help me to strip down guilt? Can using ballpoint pen bring back innocence? Chinese culture forbids speaking of family shame. My ultimate goal is to face head-on this heavy-hearted matter. When my heart allows, I convert these stories through the work of cartoon-like gesture into bearable, yet straightforward imagery to reveal the raw emotional experiences we share. Over time, I hope the sweet anticipation for mooncake parties will become fruitful.
About the artist
Sami Tsang was born in Canada and raised in Hong Kong. She studied traditional Chinese painting for 7 years, before returning to Canada to pursue her passion for art. She began her study of ceramics in the specialized art program at H. B. Beal Secondary School in London, Ontario. In 2015, she enrolled in the ceramics program at Sheridan College, where she was introduced to the broader clay community and guided attentively by her professors and peers. Tsang earned a Master of Fine Art degree in Ceramic Art at Alfred University (NY) in 2021. She has relocated to Toronto where she is currently establishing a studio.
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