Cloth and Clay: Communicating Culture

The on-line exhibition, Cloth and Clay: Communicating Culture, was a collaborative project involving the Textile Museum of Canada and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. The two museums with very distinct collections jointly developed the content for this Web site. The development team wanted to create opportunities to: re-unite material from common cultural origins; put objects into their context; find common themes; and, discover new relationships between the collections. They also wanted to reconnect indigenous peoples whose cultures and objects are represented with this material by having them act as advisors. This Web site was launched on the Virtual Museum of Canada (September 2002) and the Web site development also provided content and design for a physical exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada (on display from August 2002 to February 2003). Conducting audience evaluations throughout the Web development process was a very important aspect of this project.