Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

At a Ceramists Canada meeting in 1981 came a renewed call to find a permanent home for the country's finest ceramic pieces. This was prompted by a desire to honour the memory of recently dead Canadian potter Ruth Gowdy McKinley. The Glass Art Association of Canada and Artists in Stained Glass later became enthusiastic collaborators as the gallery concept evolved to also incorporate glass, stained glass, and enamel works.

Calgary, Halifax, North York, Victoria, and Waterloo were investigated and evaluated as potential sites for the national gallery. During the Ceramists Canada 1982 Annual General Meeting, Waterloo emerged as the clear choice on the strength of its commitment to provide a prime uptown location.

Over the next nine years, a core team of volunteers guided the planning and conducted the fundraising essential for a project of such magnitude. A 1984 feasibility study, funded by the federal and provincial governments, validated the need for a national gallery dedicated to the ceramic arts.

In October 1986, a national architectural competition was held, inviting eight firms from across Canada for submissions. Vancouver architects John and Patricia Patkau finished first and subsequently transformed the property at the corner of Caroline and Erb Streets from an aged hockey arena into a cultural edifice.

1991 witnessed the start of construction and the Gallery officially opened its doors on June 19, 1993.[2]

Currently The Clay & Glass receives annual and multi-year funding from the three levels of Canadian government –– municipal, provincial and federal. This operating support is distributed by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Museum Assistance Program and the City of Waterloo. The current operating budget is derived from three main revenue sources: government grants, community support and earned revenue.

The Clay & Glass operates with an independent volunteer board of directors who provide oversight to the full-time Executive Director and staff. The Gallery is run by six departments, each headed by a full or part-time staff member. These departments include: Curatorial, Development, Marketing, Collections Management, Programming, and Gallery Shop.

On June 30, 2008, the Gallery was granted Category 'A' status within the Cultural Properties Export and Import Act. The Minister of Canadian Heritage provides this designation to "institutions that have the capacity to ensure their long-term preservation and to make them accessible to the public through research, exhibitions, publications and websites."[3] In effect, the Government of Canada entrusts the Gallery to house and steward artworks deemed to be national treasures, on behalf of the people of Canada. The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is honoured to be an institutional custodian of works of cultural importance on behalf of Canadians everywhere.

The Gallery has an extensive education and scholarly Study Collection. This collection comprises primarily industrial or functional objects, including paperweights, bottles, technical objects, vessels, commercial pressed glass and ceramic moulds. These objects are available for academics, researchers and other artists to touch, feel and inspect. This collection is also the foundation upon which an extensive educational curriculum is based. The gallery uses these materials primarily as a "study collection".

The Ann Roberts Archival Centre holds an extensive and growing number of archives. Currently there are over 8 fonds from individual artists, galleries, companies, scholars and organizations. They consist of unique primary materials such as personal papers, notebooks, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, drawings, blueprints, ephemera, photographs, slides, and transparencies. The archival collections are available for use by researchers.

The Sinclair Family Research Library of the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery is Canada's foremost library on the art and history of glass and ceramics. The library has an extensive holding of Exhibition catalogues, both from the venue itself and outside, trade publications related to the fields of glass and ceramics, works on paper, slides of the collection and early gallery, as well as educational movies. The library is open to Academics, persons interested in the field, practising artists as well as the public by appointment.