A Les Manning Legacy at Medalta

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Medalta Executive Director Aaron Nelson has shared the following story:

Recently a friend of mine moved. It was kind of a big move, as he moved back to Calgary where he went to art school more than 50 years ago. Really any move is big as it means changing our home. Home means a lot; it is where we can be ourselves, we can relax, recharge, and ground ourselves, it is a big part of our identity.

Home is big on our minds these days at Medalta. We think a lot about it because we are building a home of sorts. Currently we are renovating the former offices at the Medicine Hat Brick and Tile site to become a communal living space. Up to 20 artists from around the world can be accommodated and have meaningful creative experiences here at Medalta.

Our vision is to provide our Artists in Residence with safe and affordable housing on-site to ensure they have a positive experience at Medalta. We believe the Artist Lodging project can become a vital part of Medalta’s effort to offer our extended creative community a chance to create in a heritage context in a way that is meaningful, economic, and accessible. All artists already have studios at the Shaw International Centre for Contemporary Ceramics; the Artist Lodge would be a 10-minute walk from their space.

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This vision is already being transformed into reality. The building that is being renovated is an adaptively reused mid-century modern structure that housed the former offices of IXL. This unique structure is protected as a Provincial Historic Resource and features a variety of masonry materials that were produced on site. We have created the blueprints for this open concept space. The perimeter will feature 12 private bedrooms around a core of communal space for cooking, eating, and socializing. There are a variety of bathroom options and the entire space is accessible; it was designed to accommodate the diverse range of folks that we attract to Medalta. Folks like Les Manning who moved here in 2002.

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Les Manning

Les is that friend I was referring to earlier. For years he was the Artistic Director of the Medalta International Artists in Residence Program. In many ways he is responsible for the program being what it is today. Les describes himself as a community man and his father was a community man and Les spent his career building community as the Director of the Ceramic Department at the Banff Centre, as a founding board member of the Canadian Craft Council, a founding board member of the Alberta Craft Council, and in his travels to over 50 countries demonstrating his craft. He accomplished a lot in his 50+ years the field.

The thing is, Les just left Medicine Hat and moved to Calgary to a communal living environment. It is not what you are thinking, Les has late stage Alzheimer’s and is moving to an assisted living facility to be closer to his family. Before he left, a bunch of us got together for dinner and Les talked about the good old days of getting creative folks together to do what they do best…create. He spoke of his days in Banff and the shared stories around the dinner table with creatives from around the world. Les’ stories are short on specifics these days and when they end they can sometimes begin again, but what struck me to the core was that despite the haze of his illness he is still a community man to the core. It is so comforting to hear that home is important no matter what stage of life we are at. Les will bring that community spirit to his new home much like the artists who come to Medalta will bring theirs. As we say goodbye to Les we also look forward to welcoming new artists to their new home on the site of the former brickyard.You too can take a lesson from Les. We are not asking you to travel to 50 countries or to start a National organization, what we are asking is that if it resonates with your values to please contribute financially to help make the Artist Lodge a reality.

Source: Medalta in the Historic Clay District