“The Hat” (day 2)
The city of Medicine Hat got its name from the Blackfoot term Saamis, which refers to the headdress of eagle feather worn by a medicine man.
We thought the downtown was beautiful and it reminded me of Winnipeg’s downtown : lots to do, plenty of arts, restaurants, etc., and tons of murals.
We decided to go on a self-guided tour so we drove over to the Medalta Clay Factory Museum in the historic district.
This is a wonderful, beautifully preserved piece of history and the attention to detail and information available was incredible.
We were able to walk into one of the gigantic kilns where it would take a day to stock the pottery and a week to fire it all.
We saw how they found all different clays depending on the type of pot or fine dish, how they made the molds for individual potteries, samples of all the things they made there….some of which I own (!)…and every possible thing you might need to know about working with clay in this way.
About the museum:
Experience the museum while you walk the factory floors and run your hands along the brick walls that hold the stories of our industrial history. Or you could spend your time in our contemporary galleries where you can see creations from local, regional, and international artists. And finally, spend time in our gift shop where you can purchase items made by our skilled artisans using clay mined within 200km of our facilities.
This was a very interesting experience and I highly recommend it if you ever visit “The Hat”.
