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International Ceramic Art Fair Preview Gala in support of the Gardiner Museum’s Access Fund, Toronto

Now in its second year, the International Ceramic Art Fair is a weekend-long happening that offers ceramic enthusiasts the chance to acquire wonderful works by leading Canadian and international ceramicists. The preview gala for the second (and one can only hope, now annual) fair, co-chaired by The Hon. Nicole Eaton and the Hon. Hilary Weston, served not just as a chance for collectors to get first dibs on this year’s works, but (with the proceeds raised from tickets), also support the Gardiner Museum’s Access Fund, which makes clay programs at the museum accessible to young people.

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Nicole Eaton, Lynda Prince and Melanie Munk at the second International Ceramic Art Fair. Eaton co-chaired the preview gala.George Pimentel/The Globe and Mail

This year, the focus was on the work of “women-identified artists,” many of whom are familiar to Gardiner-goers, with their work either represented in the permanent collection or having been the subject of past exhibitions. A selection of Janet Macpherson’s intricate whimsy-filled animals, which were the focus of a show at the Gardiner in 2017, were offered for sale, as were a handful of works by Shary Boyle, who’s nine-foot public sculpture titled Cracked Wheat stands in front of the gallery. (Boyle also represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2013.) For ICAF 2019 Boyle collaborated with three fellow artists, Rajni Perera, Lido Pimienta and Jillian Tamaki, all of whom were in attendance, to create a trio of brilliant porcelain busts.

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Artists Jillian Tamaki, Shary Boyle, Lido Pimienta and Rajni Perera. For ICAF 2019, Boyle collaborated with her three fellow artists to create a trio of brilliant porcelain busts.The Globe and Mail

Other creators included Lindsay Montgomery and Julie Moon, and on offer too, was a selection of works from the California-based Jeffrey Spahn Gallery and New York-based Japanese ceramic gallery Joan B. Mirviss LTD. Those in attendance also had the chance to view Savour: Food Culture in the Age of Enlightenment (running through Jan. 19), which charts the swift shifts in food and dining in France between 1650 and the French Revolution in 1789 (yours truly swooned for, among other magnificent objects, a circa 1754 cabbage-shaped tureen of magnificent beauty and proportion). Among those out: committee members including Melanie Munk, Margaret McCain, Lynda Prince, Maxine Granovsky Gluskin and Emmanuelle Gattuso; art consultant and interior designer Barbara Macdonald; James Appleyard, chair of the Gardiner’s board of directors, and of course, Gardiner Museum executive director and CEO, Kelvin Browne. The event, held on Nov. 21, raised north of $100,000.

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James Appleyard, chair of the Gardiner’s board of directors, with event co-chair Hilary Weston and Galen Weston.The Globe and Mail

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Maxine Granovsky Gluskin and Barbara Macdonald.The Globe and Mail

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Gardiner Museum executive director and CEO, Kelvin Browne, and Emmanuelle Gattuso.The Globe and Mail

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