We're delighted to announce that the Gardiner Museum will reopen to the public with two days of free admission on Saturday July 11 and Sunday July 12. From July 13 onward, we'll resume our regular hours and admission rates. It seems we've been gone so long—we miss you and can't wait to welcome you back! Please read about our new health and safety protocols before your visit.
During our temporary closure, we're posting exhibitions and selections from our collection online. Discover Inuit ceramics, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, pottery from the Ancient Americas, and more!
We're excited to present a new live series hosted by Chief Curator Sequoia Miller in which an artist will share three of their artworks and speak about them in connection to a larger theme. On Thursday July 9 at 1 pm, Azza El Siddique, a Sudanese-Canadian interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, painting, photography, and film, will discuss three of her artworks in the context of the theme “Absence”. Registration is free!
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!
We’re closed until further notice, but we’re planning for the day when we can again welcome visitors. We encourage you to make a gift to the Gardiner. This will be vital for when we reopen, and is the optimistic message we all need.
We have an exciting new school program focused on narrative storytelling. Your students will learn about the community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut in the 1960s and 70s when a cultural revolution was taking place. Long renowned for their stone and bone carvings, the Inuit peoples of Nunavut began working with a unique art form—ceramic low-relief and figurative sculptures. Today, after a century of displacement, pottery has helped revitalize the Inuit culture and way of life, creating a new artistic language based on imagery, symbolism, and narration. Students will explore the Gardiner’s collection of Rankin Inlet Inuit ceramics, and learn to tell their own stories with clay.
Upon request, high school groups registering for the full day program can choose between two studio options at the time of booking: low-relief storytelling or creating a collective piece alongside our potters.
Students will have a discussion in the galleries, followed by a hands-on project in the studio.
Students will have an opportunity to learn about about the community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut in the 1960s and 70s through activities, scavenger hunts and audio-visual presentations. In the afternoon students will participate in a hands-on project.
Program Details
* Optional $3 kiln firing fee. Firing takes 10 to 14 business days. Please add a $5 processing fee per group. ** Registration required, please fill out the form by clicking “Book a Visit” button below.
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1. Shaman’s Head (II), 2006, Gift of the Museum of Inuit Art G16.13.8
2. Seated Drummer, Tala-Tonalá style Mexico, Jalisco 300 B.C. - A.D. 200 Earthenware with white on red slip paint Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.56
3. The Monkey Orchestra Germany, Meissen, c. 1753–75 Hard-paste porcelain with overglaze enamels, gilding Modelled by Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706–1775) and Peter Reinicke (1711–1768) Mark: Crossed swords in underglaze blue Gift of George and Helen Gardiner, G83.1.675