BMO Artist Lodge

Stay at The Lodge

The newly opened BMO Artist Lodge is a communal living space at the former offices of the historic I-XL Industries. It houses international artists just a 10 minute walk from their studio spaces.

The Medalta International Artists in Residence Program has attracted hundreds of artists to our community since it started in 1999. If heritage is the heart of the Historic Clay District then these creative folks are the blood; the nourishment for all that we do at Medalta.

Our vision to provide our Artists in Residence with safe and affordable housing on-site to ensure they have a positive experience at Medalta has now come true. The BMO Artist Lodge is 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 space is a 10-minute walk from their space.

The Lodge 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. The perimeter features 13 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 as it was designed to accommodate the diverse range of folks that we attract to Medalta.

A foundation of all programming at Medalta is the Artist in Residence program.

• Artists from around the world come to our community in order to conduct engaging research in a proximal learning environment.

• The artists teach in our education program; the program leads in delivering experience based cross-curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities for school districts and adult communities.

• The artists are engaged in our pottery production facility that produces pottery that is sold across Canada using materials that are mined from within 200 km.

• These artists act as ambassadors for our social enterprise business, Plainsman Clays LTD. that manufactures and distributes clay and clay products throughout Canada and into the US.