Robert von Neumann taught painting, and when I finally got into a painting class of his, he reacted in much the same… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I was a very hard-edged geometric painter, strongly influenced by [Piet] Mondrian and [Theo] van Doesburg and that sort of thing. — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Bernard [Leach] was, as I said , trained as a painter and an etcher. — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
If you didn't know what you were trying to do, [Robert von Neumann] wouldn't say a word. He would just turn and… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I thought, oh, I'm going to be a painter. And eventually my family had moved near Chicago, and when I graduated from… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
[ Bernard] Leach was the one who taught us that, because he, too, had started out as a painter and an etcher… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I went to the Chicago Art Institute, which was the best painting school in the area at that time. And I took… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I started to do silk-screen in the early days of my painting training, due to a woman who taught art history at… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
[Bernard Leach] talked about painting, but we never talked about ceramics in that evening. But at the end of the evening he… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
In fact, I believe to a certain extent a person today who starts with just clay, with no drawing and no painting… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
At that [childhood] time, of course, if you were involved in art, it was going to be drawing and painting, because that's… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
It was a figure painting class, where you had a model, and [Robert von Neumann ] would wander around and he'd come… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
In working on a drawing or a painting, one can rework and rework and rework and change ideas until you get it… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
There was a school in Chicago called the School of Design. This was started by [Laszló] Moholy-Nagy, and it was a wonderful… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Alix [MacKenzie], on the other hand, found that her painting would translate much more readily into decoration, and she could play with… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
In the middle of my second year at school, in 1943, I got drafted into the army, was gone for three years,… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Alix [MacKenzie] was a looser, more linear painter, dealing with amoebic forms, let's say, close to [Joan] Miró as opposed to my… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I thought I was going to be able to use my painting ideas as decoration on pottery, but my painting did not… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
[Kathleen Blackshear] just said, "Have you thought of looking at this?" and so on and so on and so on. And it was a… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Some years ago I was working on some forms which were vase forms with a fairly narrow base, and it was after [Hans] Coper… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I found out later on that was not true, that life drawing tells you a great deal about rhythm, about the structure of a… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Remember, this is back in the '40s, and the idea of a museum being a place where interested people could come in direct contact… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
At the end of that two weeks Bernard [Leach] asked us if we would like to sit with him tending the kiln, the big… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I got drafted into the army and by pure chance was pushed into a silk-screen shop at this camp where I was, because they… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
[In the Field Museum of Natural History] we could see very simple, primitive, hand-built pottery from Babylonia and ancient Egypt and so forth, Greece.… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Chicago is a wonderful area because it's blessed with a tremendous number of museums of various sorts, not only the Art Institute of Chicago… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
It was a wonderful opportunity. And so for two and a half years we lived with [Bernard] Leach. — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We thought [with Alix MacKenzie], if those are the kinds of pots from every culture that interest us, why would we think that it… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I went to the Chicago Art Institute, which was the best painting school in the area at that time. And I took painting classes… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
It was there that we really first came in contact with the work of Shoji Hamada, who was Bernard's best friend from Japan, who… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
![“I was a very hard-edged geometric painter, strongly influenced by [Piet] Mondrian and [Theo] van Doesburg and that sort of thing.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8b8/warren-mackenzie-4654_geometric_i-was-a-very-hard-edged-geometric-painte_1502141.jpg)
![“Bernard [Leach] was, as I said , trained as a painter and an etcher.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/883/warren-mackenzie-4654_painter_bernard-leach-was-as-i-said-trained-as-a_758276.jpg)
![“If you didn't know what you were trying to do, [Robert von Neumann] wouldn't say a word. He would just turn and walk away. So you very quickly learned to think that you'd better be attempting to do something in that painting class.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/008/warren-mackenzie-4654_attempting_if-you-didn-t-know-what-you-were-trying_2054709.jpg)
![“[ Bernard] Leach was the one who taught us that, because he, too, had started out as a painter and an etcher and had only gotten into ceramics by chance when he was in Japan trying to teach the Japanese how to do etching, which, as he said, they were not ready for yet.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9e6/warren-mackenzie-4654_ceramics_bernard-leach-was-the-one-who-taught-us_830509.jpg)
![“[Bernard Leach] talked about painting, but we never talked about ceramics in that evening. But at the end of the evening he said to us, "Well," he said, "I've changed my mind, and if you want, you can come back a year from now and apprentice in the workshop."” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1bf/warren-mackenzie-4654_apprentice_bernard-leach-talked-about-painting-but_1965345.jpg)
![“At that [childhood] time, of course, if you were involved in art, it was going to be drawing and painting, because that's the only thing that was taught in the schools.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fd4/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_at-that-childhood-time-of-course-if-you_510704.jpg)
![“It was a figure painting class, where you had a model, and [Robert von Neumann ] would wander around and he'd come up behind someone and say, "Well, what are you trying to do?" And if you told him what you were trying to do, he would then proceed to discuss this with you and suggest things that…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fae/warren-mackenzie-4654_attempting_it-was-a-figure-painting-class-where-you_1968927.jpg)
![“There was a school in Chicago called the School of Design. This was started by [Laszló] Moholy-Nagy, and it was a wonderful school, but we [with Alix MacKenzie] didn't go to that school. We did have friends who went to that school and we would visit there often, and I'm sure it pushed me in my…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/661/warren-mackenzie-4654_association_there-was-a-school-in-chicago-called-the_1912692.jpg)
![“Alix [MacKenzie], on the other hand, found that her painting would translate much more readily into decoration, and she could play with the spacing and the intensity of imagery on the form in a way which I could not. So that when we established our pottery, I was most unhappy with my decoration.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/150/warren-mackenzie-4654_decoration_alix-mackenzie-on-the-other-hand-found-t_1028664.jpg)
![“In the middle of my second year at school, in 1943, I got drafted into the army, was gone for three years, and when I came back, I tried to get into the painting classes which I wanted, but because of all the returned GIs [the GI Bill], everyone was in school and the classes were all full. So I…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e62/warren-mackenzie-4654_army_in-the-middle-of-my-second-year-at-schoo_674284.jpg)
![“Alix [MacKenzie] was a looser, more linear painter, dealing with amoebic forms, let's say, close to [Joan] Miró as opposed to my more static exploration of space.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5af/warren-mackenzie-4654_exploration_alix-mackenzie-was-a-looser-more-linear_1568535.jpg)
![“[Kathleen Blackshear] just said, "Have you thought of looking at this?" and so on and so on and so on. And it was a discussion group where everyone had a say, and it was a tremendous learning experience.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/49b/warren-mackenzie-4654_discussion_kathleen-blackshear-just-said-have-you-t_18002.jpg)
![“Some years ago I was working on some forms which were vase forms with a fairly narrow base, and it was after [Hans] Coper had died that I saw an exhibition of his, a catalogue from an exhibition, and he was showing some forms which were made by cutting and joining a lot of different parts together…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/16b/warren-mackenzie-4654_bits_some-years-ago-i-was-working-on-some-for_61245.jpg)
![“Remember, this is back in the '40s, and the idea of a museum being a place where interested people could come in direct contact with works hadn't arrived on the scene yet. That, I think, I first ran into at the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C., where a man named Marty [Martin] Amt decided that he…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ddb/warren-mackenzie-4654_assistants_remember-this-is-back-in-the-40s-and-the_105550.jpg)
![“At the end of that two weeks Bernard [Leach] asked us if we would like to sit with him tending the kiln, the big oil-fired kiln that they had. He was still sitting what we call a kiln watch at that time, and he wondered if we would like to sit the watch with him and talk. So naturally this was our…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6dd/warren-mackenzie-4654_big-oil_at-the-end-of-that-two-weeks-bernard-lea_146880.jpg)
![“[In the Field Museum of Natural History] we could see very simple, primitive, hand-built pottery from Babylonia and ancient Egypt and so forth, Greece. We could see the most sophisticated things that came out of the Orient - Japan, Korea, and China - some few pieces of European porcelain, majolica…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8fc/warren-mackenzie-4654_ancient_in-the-field-museum-of-natural-history-w_183538.jpg)
![“It was a wonderful opportunity. And so for two and a half years we lived with [Bernard] Leach.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cf3/warren-mackenzie-4654_half_it-was-a-wonderful-opportunity-and-so-fo_230701.jpg)
![“We thought [with Alix MacKenzie], if those are the kinds of pots from every culture that interest us, why would we think that it should be any different in mid-North America 20th century? And we decided then that our work would center around that sort of utilitarian pottery, and that's what I've…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/db7/warren-mackenzie-4654_20th-century_we-thought-with-alix-mackenzie-if-those_265640.jpg)
![“It was there that we really first came in contact with the work of Shoji Hamada, who was Bernard's best friend from Japan, who had come from Japan back to England with [Bernard] Leach when Leach was establishing his pottery.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7e4/warren-mackenzie-4654_best-friend_it-was-there-that-we-really-first-came-i_295653.jpg)