The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is a public art gallery located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada is the only Canadian art gallery exclusively dedicated to exhibiting and collecting ceramic, glass, enamel and stained glass works of art. It has approximately 20,000 annual visitors.Canada has a long history of silica based arts. The Canadian Guild of Potters — which would later become known as Ceramists Canada —was formed in 1936. Concurrent with the founding of the guild came the first thought of establishing a national ceramics gallery. It wasn’t until 45 years later that the idea gained traction. Construction of the gallery began in 1991 and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery opened in June 1993. The building was designed by Patkau Architects of Vancouver, who received a Medal of Excellence for the design under the Governor General's Awards for Architecture program in June 1997.The gallery has more than nine hundred items in the permanent collection and five exhibiting galleries.Building historyConstructionAt 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 highly respected and recently passed 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.
