The Gardiner Museum is commissioning a new permanent public artwork to honour the ongoing Indigenous presence on Turtle Island.

An update from Executive Director & CEO Kelvin Browne and Chief Curator Sequoia Miller on the Gardiner’s ongoing anti-racism, anti-oppression, and equity work.

The Gardiner Museum is pleased to announce that we will offer free admission Community Building Weekends for the rest of 2020. The goal of these free weekends is to encourage our diverse communities, particularly first-time visitors, to explore the Museum, participate in hands-on programs that connect families, and experience clay and ceramics in unique, inspiring, and unexpected ways.

As we continue to refine our health and safety protocols for staff and visitors, and adjust to reduced weekday admissions, the Gardiner will be adopting new hours to coincide with the periods of highest demand. We will continue to offer free weekend admission into the fall.

This moment of temporary retreat into the private sphere offers us the chance to think about the relationship between the inside and the outside worlds, and the things we consider central to our ways of life. Ceramics from the past highlight the social function of domestic objects and exemplify the ways in which they contribute to identity.

In anticipation of Clay Date on August 25, we talked to featured artist Habiba El-Sayed about her early experiences with ceramics and how she sees raw clay as the perfect medium to express some of the complex emotions we’re all experiencing right now.

Discover the behind-the-scenes transformation of a damaged Chinese porcelain figure, donated to the Gardiner in 2015. Conservator Marlene Wilson’s photo diary takes you through the entire restoration process.

In response to the success of the Gardiner’s free opening weekend, the Museum will continue to offer free admission to the public every Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer.

A message from Executive Director & CEO Kelvin Browne on the actions the Gardiner will take toward becoming a more equitable and anti-racist institution.

A message from Chief Curator Sequoia Miller on the colonial roots of the collection and the Gardiner’s commitment to bringing greater representation to the Museum.