Our main inspiration [with Alix MacKenzie], I think, came from the Field Museum of Natural History, because they had pieces which were… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We both [with Alixandra Kolesky MacKenzie] got into ceramics, you might say, by the back door. Looking back on it, I think… — 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… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Bernard [Leach] was making pots which were duplicates of his drawing, and that was a difference of approach, which I think is… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We were more fortunate than most, because [Bernard] Leach had been in America on a lecture tour in 1950, and we made… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We became more familiar with [Bernard Leach], and with this familiarity came, I wouldn't say contempt, but certainly an awareness that everything… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
In looking at these pots at the Field Museum, Alix [MacKenzie] and I both came to a conclusion individually but also collectively… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
When we worked at the pottery, we did learn to make pots, that is, the physical act of making the pot. We… — 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… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We never had a catalogue; we never said we were going to duplicate these pots this year and next year and the… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Here is this ability to explore ideas, but with minute changes, and then look at the results. Often you get so excited… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
In fact, [Bernard Leach] was several generations removed from us. At that time we were there, I think Alix [MacKenzie] and I… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Things happen very quickly and they have to happen quickly in order to have vitality, which I think is essentially part of… — 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… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
When you're young, you think you can do anything, and we thought. — 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
Hilda Reiss was the head of the Everyday Art Gallery. Hilda Reiss came from Germany, had trained at the original Bauhaus in… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Those two teachers [Kathleen Blackshear and Robert von Neumann] were just fantastic, I thought. They never directed you in a single direction,… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
This is something which I think I have been able to communicate to both people I have taught and people that have… — 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
I used to think [Shoji] Hamada never drew, until there was a book by Bernard [Leach] published about his work [Hamada: Potter,… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
I think back to some of the pots we made when we first started our pottery, and they were pretty awful pots.… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Bernard [Leach] knew Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Johnny Wells. I can think of a number of people that… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Friends of Bernard's [Leach] came to visit, and when we went to London, we were given introductions to people like Lucie Rie,… — 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
![“Our main inspiration [with Alix MacKenzie], I think, came from the Field Museum of Natural History, because they had pieces which were selected not for art content but for their relationship to the anthropological history of mankind.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/566/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_our-main-inspiration-with-alix-mackenzie_385013.jpg)
![“We both [with Alixandra Kolesky MacKenzie] got into ceramics, you might say, by the back door. Looking back on it, I think this was a very good thing.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9a3/warren-mackenzie-4654_back-doors_we-both-with-alixandra-kolesky-mackenzie_838649.jpg)
![“Bernard [Leach] was making pots which were duplicates of his drawing, and that was a difference of approach, which I think is quite critical to these two men [Leach and Shoji Hamada].” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1a1/warren-mackenzie-4654_approach_bernard-leach-was-making-pots-which-were_298982.jpg)
![“We were more fortunate than most, because [Bernard] Leach had been in America on a lecture tour in 1950, and we made arrangements to travel from America back to England with him on the same boat. It was a very slow boat. I think it took us about seven days to cross the Atlantic.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/85d/warren-mackenzie-4654_america_we-were-more-fortunate-than-most-because_1229779.jpg)
![“We became more familiar with [Bernard Leach], and with this familiarity came, I wouldn't say contempt, but certainly an awareness that everything that he said was not necessarily what we were thinking. That doesn't mean it was wrong, but Leach was a person out of a different generation.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/743/warren-mackenzie-4654_awareness_we-became-more-familiar-with-bernard-lea_1539867.jpg)
![“In looking at these pots at the Field Museum, Alix [MacKenzie] and I both came to a conclusion individually but also collectively that the pots that really interested us were the pots that people had used in their everyday life, and we began to think - I mean, whether it was ancient Greece or…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/17d/warren-mackenzie-4654_ancient_in-looking-at-these-pots-at-the-field-mu_1294704.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)
![“In fact, [Bernard Leach] was several generations removed from us. At that time we were there, I think Alix [MacKenzie] and I were 26 and 28, and Leach was about 63, and we thought he was a very old man. I used to always want to help him up the stairs in the house for fear he'd fall. Actually, he…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5c2/warren-mackenzie-4654_conditions_in-fact-bernard-leach-was-several-genera_506681.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)
![“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)
![“Those two teachers [Kathleen Blackshear and Robert von Neumann] were just fantastic, I thought. They never directed you in a single direction, but they just encouraged you to think for yourself.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/db8/warren-mackenzie-4654_fantastic_those-two-teachers-kathleen-blackshear-a_1979320.jpg)
![“I used to think [Shoji] Hamada never drew, until there was a book by Bernard [Leach] published about his work [Hamada: Potter, Tokyo; New York: Harper & Row, 1975] and at the rear of the book were a number of wonderful little sketches, but they were not drawings like Bernard made.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cb5/warren-mackenzie-4654_book_i-used-to-think-shoji-hamada-never-drew_3123577.jpg)
![“Bernard [Leach] knew Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Johnny Wells. I can think of a number of people that we met there just because we were living with Bernard. Some of them became our friends, particularly the younger artists, but we were privileged to at least meet…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a47/warren-mackenzie-4654_artist_bernard-leach-knew-ben-nicholson-barbara_1834433.jpg)
![“Friends of Bernard's [Leach] came to visit, and when we went to London, we were given introductions to people like Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Richard Batram. All these people were, let's say, made available to us by a friendship with Leach. In addition there was a potter's group - what was it called?…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dd3/warren-mackenzie-4654_available_friends-of-bernard-s-leach-came-to-visit_2626681.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)
![“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)
![“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)