Warren MacKenzie talks about learning by making things. He describes how drawing shows rhythm and how pottery from many cultures can teach us about human structure. He also mentions living with a mentor and visiting Chicago’s museums for inspiration and sharing ideas with friends.
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Warren MacKenzie was a ceramicist.
Quick Facts About Warren MacKenzie
Born
February 16, 1924
Died
December 31, 2018
Profession
Ceramicist
About Warren MacKenzie
He is often called the master or father of American ceramic art in the mingei tradition and kept his pottery prices low even when galleries would pay more.
![“[Shoji] Hamada seldom drew an exact drawing of a pot that he was going to make.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/900/warren-mackenzie-4654_drawing_shoji-hamada-seldom-drew-an-exact-drawin_319195.jpg)
![“[Sculpturing] didn't stick with me. I never felt I wanted to go on with that.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d8/warren-mackenzie-4654_artist_sculpturing-didn-t-stick-with-me-i-never_2648223.jpg)
![“Bernard [Leach] was, as I said , trained as a painter and an etcher.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/883/warren-mackenzie-4654_painter_bernard-leach-was-as-i-said-trained-as-a_758276.jpg)
![“[I made in army] all sorts of dumb things, but it did teach me a lot about the silk-screen process.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f1/warren-mackenzie-4654_army_i-made-in-army-all-sorts-of-dumb-things_478441.jpg)
![“Alix [ MacKenzie] had stopped teaching because we had a child and she stayed home to take care of the baby, and I taught.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c33/warren-mackenzie-4654_baby_alix-mackenzie-had-stopped-teaching-beca_1407810.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/i/9a3/warren-mackenzie-4654_back-doors_we-both-with-alixandra-kolesky-mackenzie_838649.jpg)
![“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/i/8b8/warren-mackenzie-4654_geometric_i-was-a-very-hard-edged-geometric-painte_1502141.jpg)
![“Bernard's [Leach] drawings delineated every little accent on the pot, every subtle curve and change of angle and proportion and all.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc9/warren-mackenzie-4654_accents_bernard-s-leach-drawings-delineated-ever_2920404.jpg)
![“What I didn't know at the time [of my scholarship] was that the ceramic class was not really a very good class. This was many years ago and should not reflect on the conditions at the Art Institute of Chicago to this day, but we didn't know anything and we started to learn about how to work with…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_what-i-didn-t-know-at-the-time-of-my-sch_1457260.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/i/9e6/warren-mackenzie-4654_ceramics_bernard-leach-was-the-one-who-taught-us_830509.jpg)
![“[St. Ives] is a wonderful place to live. It's a small fishing town and one can live there inexpensively. There's a sympathetic population of other artists, where you can exchange ideas, and it's quite rich in artistic thought.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80d/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_st-ives-is-a-wonderful-place-to-live-it_1818515.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/i/7e4/warren-mackenzie-4654_best-friend_it-was-there-that-we-really-first-came-i_295653.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/i/661/warren-mackenzie-4654_association_there-was-a-school-in-chicago-called-the_1912692.jpg)
![“If [Bernard Leach] didn't like the drawing, he'd X it out and do another one and change the form a little bit. And when he was all done, he would stuff these pieces of paper in his pocket and go off to the pottery, and when he wanted to make pots, he would then take these out and he'd begin to…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/warren-mackenzie-4654_bits_if-bernard-leach-didn-t-like-the-drawing_1007603.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/i/16b/warren-mackenzie-4654_bits_some-years-ago-i-was-working-on-some-for_61245.jpg)
![“[Bernard Leach] was an incredible draftsman, and at the end of breakfast time, for instance, he would push his plate back, and he'd pull an old scrap of paper out of his pocket and a little stub of a pencil, and he'd begin to make small drawings, about an inch and a half, two inches tall, of pots…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d2b/warren-mackenzie-4654_beautiful_bernard-leach-was-an-incredible-draftsma_1663627.jpg)
![“In fact, when Bernard [Leach] would be called away to go up to London for something and we'd be living alone for a couple of days, we would dig into the storage areas in the house and we'd get out all the pots that we might not see in the course of our daily life, because we weren't using them in…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/warren-mackenzie-4654_areas_in-fact-when-bernard-leach-would-be-call_1205373.jpg)
![“We [with Alix MacKenzie] had decided we needed further training, and certainly Leach was the one we turned to. So we went to England this summer and we took examples of our work along with us and showed them to Bernard Leach and told him what we were trying to do. And of course he took one look at…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/353/warren-mackenzie-4654_courses_we-with-alix-mackenzie-had-decided-we-ne_1475255.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/i/cf3/warren-mackenzie-4654_half_it-was-a-wonderful-opportunity-and-so-fo_230701.jpg)
![“[My pots ] are not like [Hans] Coper's at all, but the idea came from seeing catalogue of his work, although at the time we knew Hans, his work was nothing like that.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/warren-mackenzie-4654_catalogues_my-pots-are-not-like-hans-coper-s-at-all_1639837.jpg)
![“I've been influenced by someone or [English artists] work. I mentioned Hans Coper as an example.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef0/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_i-ve-been-influenced-by-someone-or-engli_905460.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/i/5af/warren-mackenzie-4654_exploration_alix-mackenzie-was-a-looser-more-linear_1568535.jpg)
![“And as far as I know about Alix's [MacKenzie] work, I don't believe she ever did any sculptural work at all. It was always pottery.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8bb/warren-mackenzie-4654_believe_and-as-far-as-i-know-about-alix-s-macken_3215982.jpg)
![“We benefited from living with [Bernard] Leach, because suddenly all of his friends became our acquaintances.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f86/warren-mackenzie-4654_acquaintance_we-benefited-from-living-with-bernard-le_2206161.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/i/fd4/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_at-that-childhood-time-of-course-if-you_510704.jpg)
![“Eventually we even got to the point where we could disagree with [Bernard Leach]. I mean, when we first went there, gee, I mean, this was a man who had written a book. He was, in a sense, God, and we for the first couple of weeks called him Mr. Leach.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/warren-mackenzie-4654_book_eventually-we-even-got-to-the-point-wher_322919.jpg)
![“When Bernard [Leach] wrote his book, he wrote about the fact that even when pots are made in a series, there is a personality to each pot and that the person who made it reflects their personality into the clay.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95c/warren-mackenzie-4654_book_when-bernard-leach-wrote-his-book-he-wro_1910353.jpg)