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 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.
Food and dining were transformed in Europe during the age of Enlightenment by profound changes that still resonate today. What many of us eat, the way food is cooked, and how we dine continues to be influenced by radical changes that occurred in France from 1650 until the French Revolution in 1789.
Savour: Food Culture in the Age of Enlightenment explores the story of this transformation with rare objects, fascinating histories, and amusing stories. We start in the kitchen gardens at Versailles where advances in horticulture expanded the growing seasons of vegetables and fruits, making a greater selection of foods available year-round. Then we visit the steamy kitchens of cooks who advocated light, flavourful cuisine centuries before our time. Next, we discover surprisingly modern philosophies for healthy eating and vegetarianism, and join ardent foodies as they savour meals served on newly invented ceramic and silver wares, from sauceboats to tureens. Along the way, we explore how social changes were impacting eating then, just as now, as the grand formality of the past was often abandoned in favour of informality and intimacy.
Savour: Food Culture in the Age of Enlightenment is organized by the Gardiner Museum and curated by Meredith Chilton, C.M., Curator Emerita. Works of art and objects from major North American museums and private collections, as well as key pieces of contemporary ceramics and knitted art, will come together in a delectable feast for the senses designed by Opera Atelier’s Resident Set Designer, Gerard Gauci.
After the Gardiner Museum, the exhibition will tour to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.
The exhibition is accompanied by a cookbook titled The King’s Peas: Delectable Recipes and their Stories from the Age of Enlightenment by Meredith Chilton, with contributions by Markus Bestig, Executive Chef, The York Club, Toronto.
Exhibition programs & events
Friends Day | Savour: Food Culture in the Age of Enlightenment October 16, 10 am – 9 pm Gardiner Friends are invited to join us for an exclusive preview of the exhibition before it opens to the public.
Savour at CLAY Restaurant October 17, 2019 – January 19, 2020 Throughout the exhibition, CLAY restaurant is featuring special menu items inspired by curator Meredith Chilton’s new cookbook, The King’s Peas: Delectable Recipes and their Stories from the Age of Enlightenment.
The Enlightened Feast October 18, 6 – 10 pm Reflecting on the new enlightenment in the worlds of cuisine and food culture, former line cook turned journalist Ivy Knight guest curates a unique culinary experience.
European Union Film Festival Food Market October 23, 7:30 – 10 pm Sample European delicacies, cocktails, and wine offered by the Belgian Chocolate Shop, Le Baratin, Cucinato Studio, Croatia Meats, Chef Janos Szekely, Wines of Germany, and more.
Sunday at the Gardiner: Curator Tour and Light Fare November 3, 9 – 11 am This unique Sunday morning experience offers visitors a rare chance to explore the exhibition alongside its curator, Meredith Chilton, before the Museum opens to the public.
The King’s Peas | Curator Talk and Book Launch November 4, 6:30 – 8 pm Join us for join us for a lively lecture by curator Meredith Chilton in which she will delve deeper into the stories, images, and recipes from both the exhibition and its accompanying publication, The King’s Peas: Delectable Recipes and their Stories from the Age of Enlightenment.
Co-Presenting Sponsors Tom Kierans & Mary Janigan Noreen Taylor & David Staines
Contributing Sponsor Michele Beiny Harkins
The W. Garfield Weston Foundation
Paint Sponsor
Header image: Chris Antemann, A Little Feast of Folly. 2019, porcelain, enamels, luster. Photo credit Kendrick Moholt Photography.