Image: Gardiner Museum, Toronto
The Gardiner Museum in Toronto is marking the long weekend with a slate of exhibitions, clay activities and retail features, while also noting that the International Ceramic Art Fair, or ICAF, has entered its final two weeks and closes on August 16. The museum’s July 30 newsletter says visitors can see three special exhibitions during the holiday period and take part in hands-on clay activities included with admission, with free access for members and Annual Pass holders.
The announcement positions ICAF as the central draw in the museum’s late-summer calendar. The newsletter describes the fair as featuring “some of the most exciting and innovative contemporary artists working in clay today,” and directs readers to learn more through the museum’s event listing. No curator, checklist or full exhibition roster is given in the email, but the fair is clearly being presented as a limited-time opportunity in the museum’s current programming.
Alongside the fair, the Gardiner is using the long weekend to promote its broader exhibition offerings and participatory activities. The museum says it is open all long weekend and invites visitors to discover the three special exhibitions on view. It also highlights hands-on clay activities as part of the visit, reinforcing the museum’s long-standing focus on ceramics not only as an object of display but also as a medium for direct public engagement.
The newsletter’s institutional context emphasizes access and membership benefits. Admission includes the clay activities, while members and Annual Pass holders receive them free. The museum also uses the email to promote membership at the Friend level or higher, promising unlimited access to special exhibitions and permanent galleries, plus discounts and early class access. That message is tied to the museum’s “transformed ground floor,” though the email does not elaborate further on that space.
Beyond the galleries, the Gardiner is also steering attention to its education program. It advertises a family pottery class lasting two hours and spread across four dates in August, in which families can work together to make original clay sculptures. In a separate notice, the museum says more single classes have been added for August and are filling quickly, with options including wheel throwing, hand building and glazing.
The newsletter also notes a separate benefit for Gardiner Friends on August 8 and 9: free general admission to the Royal Ontario Museum, including access to 'Shokkan: Material Encounters in Japanese Art' and 'Crawford Lake: Layers in Time.' That offer is presented as a membership perk and is explicitly identified as applying to Gardiner Friends, not Annual Pass holders.
The Gardiner Shop is likewise included in the long-weekend roundup. The museum says this is the last chance to see July features in the shop, pointing to collections by Canadian ceramic artists Mélina Schoenborn, Christy Chor and Makiko Hicher before they are gone. The newsletter closes its retail note with a reminder to visit online, while the museum’s Toronto address remains listed at 111 Queen’s Park.
