Hidden Gem: Finding connection through art at The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery

Inside the Canadian Clay and Glass Museum On this week’s Hidden Gem, CTV’s Stefanie Davis goes to a gallery where art is used to explore issues in our community.

This is part of an ongoing summer series. Come back each week to learn about another hidden gem.

For more than 30 years, The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery has been bringing some of the best art from across the country and beyond to Waterloo Region.

“We collect, exhibit and research clay and glass, as well as vitreous enamel,” Denis Longchamps, the executive director and chief curator, said. “One thing that’s important for us is that it’s a public gallery. We are free admission, so anybody can come and everybody is welcome.”

The gallery features about 15 exhibitions every year, often featuring multiple ones at once, throughout their building on Caroline Street North in Waterloo.

There’s also a permanent collection that contains about 1,500 pieces of ceramic, glass and enamel art.

“We’re always changing the exhibitions throughout the year,” said Peter Flannery, senior curator and collections manager. “That involves bringing in work by artists from across Canada and often internationally.”

Exhibits are planned three to five years in advance.

“We’re looking at which artists we want to include, what kind of themes and things might be relevant to the community, and then building with those artists that we select from across Canada to develop those exhibitions,” Flannery explained. “That often includes loaning pieces from other galleries or private collectors, and a lot of the time from the artists themselves – bringing them here, setting it all up, and then having the exhibition.”

Current exhibits

Flannery said deciding what themes to feature is a balancing act between what’s topical right now and what will still be relevant in a few years.

“It’s adapting to what’s going on in the community,” he said. “If we need to make changes, we try to do that to make sure we’re having things that the community wants to see, seeing themselves represented in the exhibitions and really telling important stories that aren’t being told elsewhere.”

There are a few exhibitions on display this summer. One is titled ‘Form and Reform.’

“It’s our major exhibition featuring works by Bruce Cochrane, who taught at Sheridan for many years and he’s really well known within the ceramics community,” Flannery explained. “It’s a really interesting way of working with ceramics, as well as architectural themes and styles.”

There’s also an exhibit called ‘Patterns that Bind Us’ which is part of the Emerging Talent Series.

“’Patterns that Bind Us’ features glassworks that relate to Priscilla Kar Yee Lo’s experience as an Asian Canadian and the ways that different stereotypes and standards are placed upon Asian women, and ways to break through those in kind of subtle and interesting ways using images like Hello Kitty as this kind of critique,” Flannery said.

Additionally, there’s a small exhibit called ‘A Better Tent City.’ It was created through the gallery’s Sharing Experiences program, which invites different community groups in to work with clay.

“We invited their clients and the staff to come and do a plate while sharing their experiences, so it was humbling to listen about homelessness, how they got there, and their wanting to go back into society,” Longchamps said. “I think art can play a big role in changing the perception of people, so sharing those experiences and having an exhibition, people can come and see and read about those experiences that people share with us. I think it’s creating awareness.”

Connecting to the community

The gallery wants to appeal to people of all ages, backgrounds and interest levels by offering a variety of different programs. There are summer day camps, Saturday art activities, teen and adult workshops in September, and more.

“We try to connect with the community,” Longchamps said. “It’s a way for people to come and engage. That’s why we have sketchbooks on benches, because people can leave notes and leave their thoughts. Sometimes reading them is quite humbling as well, to see the baggage sometimes that people bring here, and to find hope or an answer to a question.”

Offering programming for children is something that holds personal significance for Longchamps.

“In my case, my art teacher in Grade 3 made all the difference because I didn’t feel that I belonged anywhere,” he explained. “I was not good in sport, I was not good in gym. I didn’t feel that I belonged. And then I found art as an outlet, and the art classes is where I was quite successful.”

He’s hoping to offer that same feeling to other kids.

“It’s giving them an outlet where they can express themselves and they can hopefully grow up and that stays with them. I think we need to start engagement with art at an early stage for people to understand it. It’s not in all schools’ curriculum anymore, so at least here they have a chance to engage with it and discover it and hopefully they’ll come back.”

Longchamps said he hopes everyone who walks through the gallery’s doors feels welcome and included.

“[I hope they] recognize themselves in maybe some of the displays we present,” he said. “Through the years, we’re trying to address different issues, different communities, different groups. We’re trying to bring voices that we don’t hear anywhere else through the arts.”

It’s also giving a platform to artists who might not get the opportunity elsewhere.

“I think we’re the only gallery in Canada that focuses on clay and glass, so it gives us a really unique opportunity to highlight artists that aren’t being shown in a lot of other galleries, and just do very creative exhibitions with their work,” Flannery explained.

With free admission all year round, this hidden gem has its doors opened for everyone.