If you're looking for a unique date idea or a fun outing with family and friends, Toronto's Gardiner Museum has you covered, and weekend admission is free until Labour Day.

From August 12 to September 5, the renowned ceramics museum is hosting a surreal and playful new exhibit called Fragments and Fictions.

Erik Jerezano, Ilyana Martínez, and Nahúm Flores of Z'otz* Collective.

Take in a large-scale mural, drawings, and ceramics interspersed with the Gardiner's own collection of pottery from the Ancient Americas, which inspired Z'otz* Collective during their residency in the museum's Community Clay Studio.

Discover original ceramics inspired by the Gardiner’s Ancient Americas collection.

After you've admired the art you can try your hand at your own craft by creating paper cut-outs based on the displays, which you can stick to the walls of the Exhibition Hall for all to see.

Visitors can use the museum's walls to express themselves through paper cut-outs.

If clay is more your medium, there is also an all-ages workshop inspired by the exhibition on the museum's outdoor plaza, running every Wednesday to Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

"Clay is a material that connects us with the earth and with our ancestors. We've developed a mythology and collective language that uses humour, oddness, and rawness. We want to inspire people by sharing the extraordinary experience of collaboration," says Z'otz* Collective.

Explore the Fragments and Fictions exhibition.

Comprised of Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, and Ilyana Martínez—three artists with Latin American roots—Z'otz* Collective will also be on site live-painting a mural until August 16.

The finished product will be celebrated in a free public event on August 17 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., featuring a performance by contemporary cellist Emma Schmiedecke.

Something beautiful is taking shape.

The exhibition reflects the artists' hybrid backgrounds, mixing Latin American, Western, and Indigenous beliefs. 

"In the cosmology of many Indigenous societies, man is not the centre of the universe. Animals and people are equally important. The project provides a moment for us to establish a bridge," explains the collective.

Fragments and Fictions is part of the Gardiner Museum's Community Arts Space, a series of collaborations with community partners and local artists. It's supported by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment initiative, which funds arts and culture projects that connect communities and amplify diverse voices.