Gardiner Museum Unveils New Look for the Front Entrance

Striking Take on a Rock Garden Evokes the Fierceness of The Potter’s Furnace

Toronto, ON July 6, 2015—The Gardiner Museum has unveiled a striking new take on a rock garden framing the building’s front entrance on Queen’s Park. The Vertical Crevice Garden, designed and donated by landscape architect, Neil Turnbull, takes its name from the upward slanting slabs of sedimentary rock dotted with mosses, alpine and dry-land perennials, ferns, and trees in stunted Bonsai form.

“The concept was borrowed from nature,” explains Neil Turnbull, President of Neil Turnbull Limited and Hedgerow Farm. “When the massive forces of continental drift push against layers of sedimentary rock, they cause it to crack, break, and rise. Over centuries, through exposure to wind, sun, and the freeze-thaw cycle, the layers split open. These fissures and crevices collect rain, dust, and an array of windblown bits like seeds and spores; plants take root, and life takes hold.”

The Museum itself underwent a major renewal in 2006 under KPMB Architects, and has since become one of the city’s most celebrated buildings, winning numerous architectural awards including the 2014 Pug Award for “Best of the Best”.

NAK Design Strategies worked with KPMB on the original landscaping, which features a series of terraced platforms. The recent garden enhancement builds upon the initial concept, this time highlighting the dialogue between the interior and exterior of the Museum.

“The building’s concrete structure and the stunning collections inside are all products of the same clay,” says Turnbull. “The filigree pattern of the stone layers mirrors many of the pieces in the collection, and the violent volcanic forces that cause the sedimentary uplift make us think of the fierceness of the potter’s furnace.”

“Neil Turnbull’s generous gift brings new life to the front of the Museum, captivating visitors and passersby with its distinctive design,” says Kelvin Browne, CEO and Executive Director of the Gardiner Museum. “The garden is in itself a work of art that invites a closer look.”

The reinvigoration of the Museum’s outdoor space coincides with an exciting schedule of summer programs that take full advantage of the plaza:

The Gardiner recently launched DOORS at 6pm, a series of Friday night cultural experiences free with half-price gallery admission that animate the Museum inside and out with performances by Toronto’s best emerging homegrown talent working in art, music, film, food, theatre, and literature. Guest can enjoy food and drinks on the patio overlooking the new garden. More information: livetest.gardinermuseum.com/doors

The Park/Avenue Pop Up lunch series, presented in partnership with Food Dudes, features a food truck parked on the plaza, an oyster bar by Rodney’s, as well as craft beers and local wines served on the patio. More information: livetest.gardinermuseum.com/parkavenue

ABOUT THE GARDINER MUSEUM
Located in the heart of Toronto at 111 Queen’s Park Crescent, the Gardiner Museum is Canada’s only ceramics museum, and one of the world’s great specialty museums. The Gardiner is committed to making a contribution to the medium of ceramics, as well as the community it serves, and is an inviting destination that inspires and connects people, art and ideas through clay. The Gardiner’s permanent collection comprises several extraordinary collections from sophisticated, dedicated collectors, making it one of the most significant centres of ceramics in North America. The breadth of the Museum’s holdings include pottery from the Ancient Americas, rare examples of Meissen, Du Paquier and Chelsea porcelain, Chinese blue and white porcelain, Japanese and Japanese-inspired porcelain, to contemporary ceramics—including an exceptional donation from contemporary ceramics collector, Raphael Yu. For more information, details on exhibitions, events, workshops, clay classes, and more, please visit: livetest.gardinermuseum.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Rachel Weiner
Communications and Volunteer Assistant
Gardiner Museum
[email protected]
416.408.5062