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.
This focus exhibition documents the rise of the faience industry in 17th and 18th-century France. Appreciated at all levels of society, faience (tin-glaze earthenware) provided a less costly, yet still highly refined and elegant alternative to porcelain.
Featuring approximately 40 objects for everyday use and ornamental wares, this exhibition surveys the production of the foremost faience centres, including Nevers, Rouen, Marseille, Moustiers and Strasbourg. The selection will offer insights into the social life and customs of the time, while reflecting the assimilation of technological advances and aesthetic influences that converged into France; from the initial introduction of the medium by Italian potters, to the diffusion of stylistic models from the Netherlands and the impact of cultural contacts with Asia.
The pieces featured in this exhibition were recently donated to the Gardiner Museum by Pierre Karch and Mariel O’Neill-Karch, and now constitute one of the rare collections of French faience in a public institution in North America.