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.
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.
Book a Visit
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