A Toronto museum is set to unveil its massive, $15.5 million transformation this fall, following an extensive, two-stage construction process.
The Gardiner Museum, located at 111 Queens Park, was founded in 1984 by George and Helen Gardiner and houses a collection of over 5,000 objects and ceramics. Over the past year, the museum has been embarking on its largest capital project in over 20 years with a multi-million dollar renovation of its ground floor.
The 9,000-square-foot ground floor, designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects and Andrew Jones Design, in collaboration with architect Chris Cornelius of studio:indigenous, features an Indigenous gallery, Makerspace, a Community Learning Centre, and the museum's first-ever gallery of Indigenous ceramics.
From July to October 2024, the museum was closed to the public, after which it reopened, with the exception of its ground floor, where renovations continued.
A generous $9 million gift from The Radlett Foundation proved the catalyst for this massive transformation, marking the largest donation in the museum's history by an individual other than its founders, and includes more than 250 objects from the late William B.G. Humphries' personal collection.
For the first time in its history, the museum is also opening a permanently dedicated gallery for Indigenous ceramics, curated by Franchesca Hebert-Spence (Anishinaabe, Sagkeeng First Nation). It features works from Manitoulin Island, Six Nations of the Grand River, and Curve Lake, including ancestral belongings.
The Makerspace will serve as a fully equipped clay studio where you can experiment with the medium, watch artists at work, participate in hands-on workshops, and attend drop-in clay sessions.
The museum's reopening also marks the debut of a new commission by Nadia Myre, a contemporary visual artist from Montreal and an Algonquin member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg First Nation.
"Fashioned from handmade ceramic beads, similar to bugle beads, and clay pipe stems Myre collects along the River Thames, the installation speaks to histories of trade, transcultural exchange, and local geologies. Myre experiments with scale, shape, and texture, and a new palette to communicate her territory, the Canadian Shield," the museum writes.
The Gardiner Museum officially reopens on Thursday, Nov. 6, and will be hosting a free weekend celebration with curator tours, hands-on clay workshops, and live performances on Nov. 8 and 9.