The highly anticipated International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) returns to the Gardiner Museum from May 23 to June 2. This year’s exhibition explores the theme “gathering”, reflecting on the ways in which artworks, and clay as a medium, can bring people together to create common ground.
During the 10-day event, visitors will have the chance to discover some of the most compelling contemporary works from more than 20 Canadian and international galleries and artists, representing a broad range of backgrounds and cultural traditions.
Nakashima Harumi, Absurdity, 2018, Photo: Courtesy of Joan B Mirviss LTD
Among them is the Pakistani British artist Halima Cassell, whose complex sculptures are influenced by her multi-cultural background and Islamic and African architectural patterns, and Michel Dumont, a queer, Ojibway and French, Two-Spirit, disabled artist and trauma survivor based in Thunder Bay who salvages vintage tiles and turns them into striking mosaics. Dumont leads a tour and mosaic workshop on June 1.
“It’s incredibly important, as well as interesting, the way artists today are drawing from their cultural backgrounds, and how ceramics can express a point of view and an experience in the world,” said Sequoia Miller, chief curator and deputy director of the Gardiner Museum.
“One of the best parts about a project like this — and you feel this in the room — is how you start to get these objects speaking to each other and taking on new meanings as they come into conversation with one another. That’s the common human experience. Where we start to learn how we can relate, work, speak and engage across cultural differences and distance.”
Jacqueline Bishop, The Keeper of All the Secrets (detail), 2023, Photo: Courtesy of Ferrin Contemporary
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, programming during ICAF includes artist tours, talks, workshops, a musical performance, and online offerings, ensuring everyone from new and seasoned collectors to artists and culture lovers will find something here.
Ceramics continues to have a massive global moment, exemplified by its significant presence in galleries, art fairs and auction houses, along with growing demand among collectors.
The Gardiner Museum — a space dedicated to championing ceramics — has positioned itself among the world’s top destinations for the artform. Recent high-profile exhibitions include Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects, Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me, Ai Weiwei: Unbroken, and Yoko Ono: The Riverbed.
Natalia Arbelaez, La Malinche, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Mindy Solomon Gallery
“Ceramics in the last ten years or so has really moved to the centre of the art world and the cultural conversation. So many of today’s leading artists are working with the medium,” said Miller. “It has become an incredibly exciting, interesting and varied platform for exploration of who we are and what’s important today.”
The theme of gathering reflects the human desire to find common ground and reaffirm shared bonds, and the nature of clay as a medium to bring people together, explained Miller.
“Historically ceramics have been made in groups, in part because of the equipment you need,” said Miller. “Clay as a medium brings people together. Whether you’re looking at ceramics or making it, it emphasises our shared humanity.”
Clay is used in every civilization throughout history, a sensory experience often discovered in childhood, Miller explained.
“It’s a quintessential kid experience, squishing mud,” Miller said. The feeling of having it move through your hands. When you come back to that feeling, it’s deeply satisfying.”
Laurent Craste, Iconocraste au bat VI, 2016. Photo: Courtesy of Chiguer art contemporain
This year’s list of participating galleries includes Chiguer Art Contemporain (Québec City and Montreal, QC); Ferrin Contemporary (Cummington, MA); Joan B Mirviss LTD (New York, NY); Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections (London, UK); Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami, FL); and Paul Petro Contemporary Art (Toronto, ON).
Featured artists are Amélie Proulx, Donté Hayes, FASTWÜRMS, Futamura Yoshimi, Halima Cassell, Imai Hyōe, Jacqueline Bishop, Laurent Craste, Linda Sikora, Marie Côté, Marissa Y Alexander, Michel Dumont, Nakashima Harumi, Natalia Arbelaez, Peter Pincus, and Stephen Andrews and Daniel Gruetter.
ICAF is the last major event before the Gardiner closes from July through September for a major renovation.
To purchase tickets, visit .
