The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art is located in University of Toronto’s St. George campus. Here are some pictures from my visits to the museum, in 2014 and 2016.
"Horse with Baggage #1" by Montreal-based artist Jean-Pierre Larocque. Stoneware with glaze (2005-2006). Photographed in 2014. The horse is carrying a baggage-laden house: the horse represents the nomadic life on move, while the house represents the sedentary life.
"Head #2" (left) and "Head #1" (Right), by Jean-Pierre Larocque. Earthenware with glazes (2005-2006). Photographed in 2016.
A close-up of Jean-Pierre Larocque's "Head #2". Photographed in 2014
Photographed in 2014
Seated "baby-face figure" from the Las Bocas archaeological site in Puebla, Mexico. Dated to 1100-800 BCE, Olmec civilization. Earthenware, white slip, ochre pigment, black pigments, and hand-built. Photographed in 2014.
A piece from Jess Riva Cooper's "Viral Series" (2013). Ceramic, glaze, decal. Inspired by invasive plant species and fungal spores, imagining the nature taking over. Photographed in 2014.
Photographed in 2014
"Piece by Piece" by Clare Twomey. Photographed in 2014
Photographed in 2014
Photographed in 2014
Artefacts from the Gulf Coast Cultures of Veracruz, 300-1200 CE. Photographed in 2014.
Photographed in 2014
"I Should Like to Give You a Kiss" by artist Robin Lambert, winner of the RBC Emerging Artist People's Choice Award in 2014. Photographed in 2014.
"Apparently" by Calgary-based artist Greg Payce, c. 1999. Earthenware. Photographed in 2014.
"Deity Effigy Funerary Urn" from Cerro de la Campana, Etla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Dated to 500-700 CE, Zapotec culture. Earthenware, and hand-built. Photographed in 2014. This vessel probably represents Cocijo, the deity of rain and lightning, and must have been used as an incense burner or offering receptacle. It shows a masked figure wearing a cape and a loin cloth, with hands resting on the crossed legs. The figure appears to be wearing a serpent headdress and a pendant showing a small face.
Photographed in 2016
Below is a photo of five artefacts from Central America.
Left: “Jaguar-effigy Tripod Dish” from Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Dated 1200-1400 CE, Guanacaste-Nicoya Zone Cultures. Red earthenware, pigment, and hand-built.
Center: “Jaguar-effigy Tetrapod Vessel with Rattle Supports” from Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Dated 1200-1400 CE, Guanacaste-Nicoya Zone Cultures. Earthenware, orange slip, red pigment, black pigment, and hand-built.
Top-right: “Pedestal dish with a dancing saurian” from Veraguas, Panama. Dated to 800-1000 CE, Coclé culture. Red earthenware, white slip, and pigment.
Bottom-left: “Zoomorphic Pendant” from Atlantic Watershed Area or Diquis zone, Costa Rica. Dated to 700-1550 CE, Atlantic Watershed Cultures. Gold.
Bottom-right: “Necklace (206 beads)” from Costa Rica. Dated to 700-1550 CE, Costa Rican / Panama culture. Gold, cotton.
Artefacts from Central America, gifted by George and Helen Gardiner. Photographed in 2016.
The following image shows three figures from Jalisco, Mexico; all dated to 300 BCE - 300 CE.
Left: “Seated Female Figure Holding a Jar”. Earthenware, pigment, and hand-built.
Center: “Figure of a Mother Nursing a Child”, Earthenware, white slip, red pigment, brown pigment, and hand-built.
Right: “Figural Group of a Mother and Child”, Earthenware, red slip, ochre slip, burnishing, and hand-built.
Mother and baby figures from Jalisco, Mexico. Photographed in 2016
Men's Tools and Women's Tools: "A man is what his wife makes him" - Inuit saying. Photographed in 2016.
