Gardiner Museum Reopening Weekend

The Gardiner Museum is officially reopening with a fully transformed ground floor, marking the Museum’s most ambitious capital project in two decades. This transformation includes the following highlights, a new gallery for Indigenous ceramics, an intergenerational ceramics gallery, a new entrance hall, a makerspace and a new community learning centre.

In addition, the museum proudly presents Linda Rotua Sormin: Uncertain Ground, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition and largest project to date. The culmination of over 20 years of remarkable exploration and innovation, Uncertain Ground opens on November 6, 2025, in conjunction with the reveal of the Gardiner’s transformed ground floor, the Museum’s largest capital project in two decades.

Commissioned by the Gardiner Museum, the exhibition brings together clay, sculpture, video, sound, hand-cut watercolour painting, and digital fabrication in a multi-sensory environment where roosters, tigers, dragons, and sacred texts serve as portals into ancient knowledge.

HIGHLIGHTS TO EXPECT

• A permanently dedicated Gallery of Indigenous Ceramics. Indigenous Immemorial: Ceramics of the Great Lakes Region is designed by Indigenous architect Chris Cornelius (Oneida) and curated by Franchesca Hebert-Spence (Anishinaabe, Sagkeeng First Nation). The gallery presents Indigenous ceramics as a living continuation of Indigenous knowledge, creativity, and cultural expression.
• The William B.G. Humphries Collection Galleries which showcases ceramics from the distant past to today, organized by geography, culture, time period, and technique. Indigenous Immemorial centres ceramic voices of the territory on which the Museum stands; Ancestral Abiayala includes works from Indigenous Latin America made before 1550; Connected Worlds considers European pottery in a global context; and Modern & Contemporary showcases recent sculptural approaches by Canadian and international artists.
• The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation Entrance Hall: This new space serves as the Museum’s welcoming point and central axis, featuring year-round presentations of ceramics, including community projects. Bright and open, the design reflects the Museum’s mission to reduce barriers to access.
• Makerspace: The Museum is putting hands-on making at the forefront with a fully equipped clay studio where visitors of all ages can experiment with the medium, watch artists at work, and participate in hands-on workshops and drop-in clay sessions.
• Community Learning Centre: A multi-purpose hub, the Community Learning Centre amplifies the Gardiner’s educational programs, community partnerships, and public talks while hosting 200+ school groups annually.

The public is invited to experience the new Gardiner beginning on November 6. On November 8 and 9, the Museum will host a free weekend celebration with curator tours, hands-on clay workshops, and live performances.

Tickets:

Free

How to get tickets?

No registration necessary

Date & Time:

Saturday, November 8, 2025 | 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

• All Day: Explore the Museum at your own pace with self-guided and interactive activities and materials.
• Free Bannock and Tea: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Clay Restaurant Pop-Up: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Hands-On Clay Activity: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Connected Worlds Gallery Tour: 11:00 am – 11:45 am
• Performance by Indonesian Community of Ontario (ICO) and Orkes Garasi: 11:45 am – 12:30 pm
• Modern and Contemporary Gallery Tour: 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
• Community Time with Artist Linda Rotua Sormin: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
• Performances by January Rogers and Lacey Hill: 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
  Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation Hall, Ground Floor
• Meet the Curators: 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
• Performance by Indonesian Community of Ontario (ICO) and Orkes Garasi: 1:45 pm – 2:30 pm
• Community Time with Artist Linda Rotua Sormin: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
• Performances by January Rogers and Lacey Hill: 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
• Indigenous Immemorial and Ancestral Abiayala Tour: 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm

Sunday, November 9, 2025 | 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

• Explore the Museum at your own pace with self-guided and interactive activities and materials.: All Day
• Free Bannock and Tea: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Family Tour: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
• Hands-On Clay Activity: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
• Collection Galleries Tour (French): 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
• Community Time with Artist Linda Rotua Sormin: 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
• Collection Galleries Tour: 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
• Performance by Indonesian Community of Ontario (ICO): 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
• Ancestral Abiayala Tour (Spanish): 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
• Indigenous Methodologies Tour: 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Meet the Curators: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Venue:

The Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park, Toronto

Paid Parking

Public Transit Accessible

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