Medalta Musings: Letting the light in

By Medicine Hat News on August 25, 2017.

You know that Leonard Cohen quote, “There is a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in”? Let’s just say that Medalta literally glows from within because there are so many cracks! We agree with Cohen that our cracks do indeed make us better. This is one of the lessons we have learned from this awesome heritage site: the perceived flaws of all of these old structures at Medalta are actually our strengths.

The trick with heritage restoration is that it is never done; it is always evolving. The oldest structures at Medalta are more than 100 years old and are in constant need of maintenance. What they need is something more than maintenance. You really have to develop a relationship with these structures — get to know them and get a feeling for how they breathe, you have to listen to them, hear their stories and tend to their needs on their schedules. We have a couple folks at Medalta who have fine-tuned this particular type of listening, this care, and this empathy for the structures of our past.

Cody Weiss has been working at Medalta since he was 15. Cody knows every joist, every joint, and most importantly every leak in these old buildings. He was recently promoted to site supervisor and he takes his job very seriously. Just the other day he spent the day uncovering the windows in ourreception galleryto literally let more light in (I guess he thought there were not enough cracks!).

He is the reason why these buildings will still be standing so your great grandkids and their grandkids can connect to theirheritage. Cody, and the whole Medalta team are playing the long game. We are maintaining and elaborating on a place where you can create your own story that will in time be layered on the previous stories that are embedded in these structures.

You have probablyheard the storyof how, during the Great Depression, the folks that rode the rails looking for work would stop off in Medicine Hat because they knew there was a chance that they could sleep in the kilns that held the residual heat from firing. Some nights as many as 40 men found a temporary home and fellowship in the kilns of Medicine Hat. The fellows who ran the kiln yard empathized with these folks and would allow them to spend the night in the warm kilns before business resumed in the morning. These night watchmen contributed in a small way to take care of their fellow citizens. To this day that ethos is endemic in Medicine Hat and is exemplified in the good work of theMedicine Hat Community Housing Society (MHCHS), which believes that society is collectively responsible for the disenfranchised. This work has led to Medicine Hat being known internationally as implementing innovative solutions for housing folks.

In July, we hosted artistsPenelope StewartandLaura Vickersonto develop the installation”House Life”in one of these beehive kilns. Laura Vickerson heard this story of the kilns being used as shelter and this narrative stuck with her as she created the pieces for the installation. In fact she was so struck with this narrative that rather than sell any of the pieces she came up with an innovative concept. All of Vickerson’s pieces are available to take home for a minimum $100 donation to the MHCHS. In the first night alone she raised more than $1,300 to support the good work that this organization is doing. It takes the creative thinking of an artist to leverage this into fundraising for a charity.

Speaking of homes, they all need cleaning, right? If we were to post an ad for a part time janitor and it read ‘Éresponsible for cleaning two pottery factories and a brick factory in a 150-year-old Historic District. You will be provided with one small vacuum, a pair of snake tongs, and some rags. Apply within.’ I suspect that we would not get too many applicants. The good news is we do not have to! We have Pamela Irvine, who is a genius when it comes to making this place look its best. Medalta is an old pottery factory and it is a very dusty place. In fact, some of the dust in here is heritage dust, meaning that it is probably the same dust that was here when Medalta closed in 1954.Pam ensures you don’t see any of this dust, or the streaks on the window, or the evidence of the 52,000 folks who visit the facility every year.Besides being a super hero worker she has her secret Medalta cleaning formula.

So if you are ever here and you see Pamela, don’t be shy, come up and thank her for taking such good care of our heritage. Who knows? She might just stop long enough to tell you stories about some of the ghosts that are rumoured to live here.

Cody and Pamela do all of this so you can enjoy your experience at Medalta. It could be coming down and enjoying a can of MHBCo’s newest beer, participating inWhistlemania and enjoying some wood fired pizza at theMarket @ Medalta. Or it could be a more involved experience such as atour of the Medicine Hat Brick and Tile Factorywhere you actually make a brick and afterwards enjoy a food and beverage experience.

Maybe it is taking apottery classwith some of your friends, or attending a lecture by an international artist. That part is up to you. Pam, Cody and the entire Medalta team are always working to ensure that you enjoy community-7based creative learning experiences in a stunning heritage context.

Aaron Nelson is acting executive director at Medalta.

12
-11