In school we did all sorts of things, molds, slab building. We were not very proficient on the wheel because the woman… — 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'm striving to make things which are the most exciting things I can make that will fit in people's homes. And in… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Remember, this is back in the 1940s, and it was sculpture which probably - in my instance probably came out of the… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We stayed on at the Institute [Chicago called the School of Design] because that was - I don't know, you start at… — Warren MacKenzie Chicago 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 find it really enriching to make pots which people are using and which they come in contact with, not only visually… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We asked a lot of questions and we watched everyone who was working in the studio. And we had an opportunity to… — Warren MacKenzie Aesthetic Copy Share Image
I followed [Shoji] Hamada, because I guess Alix [MacKenzie] and I, we both saw the danger that lay in planning things out… — 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
We were working from very exact models and dimensions and weights of clay to make these pots which had been designed some… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We had a wonderful trip, a seven-day trip, talking and sitting in the sun and so forth [with Bernard Leach]. And as… — Warren MacKenzie England Copy Share Image
Bernard [Leach] had acquired many [Shoji] Hamada works. Some of them, it was interesting - first of all, Hamada worked in St.… — Warren MacKenzie Exhibitions Copy Share Image
In the Leach Pottery we did most of our work on the wheel. [Bernard] Leach did a little work in the studio,… — 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 Ancient Copy Share Image
In searching for further training we turned to England and Bernard Leach. We thought since we had responded to his book so… — Warren MacKenzie Apprentice 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 Art Copy Share Image
Eventually I gave up teaching at the St. Paul Gallery because of disagreements with the philosophy of that museum, and I got… — Warren MacKenzie Artist Copy Share Image
We were living with Bernard [Leach] in his home. He had a fantastic collection of early English and Japanese and Chinese and… — Warren MacKenzie Access Copy Share Image
The interesting thing was we never talked about pottery. Bernard [Leach] talked about social issues; he talked about the world political situation,… — 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… — Warren MacKenzie Art 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 Art Copy Share Image
Living with [Bernard] Leach, who thought about pottery 24 hours a day, was a fantastic experience, and we really began to get… — Warren MacKenzie Fantastic Copy Share Image
We got a great benefit from our contact with those people [Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Richard Batram] and met people that we… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
When I was in school in the Art Institute, we had several problems during the course of the time we were taking… — Warren MacKenzie Art Copy Share Image
We moved up here [to St.Paul with my wife] and started to teach, we very quickly found out we were not equipped… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
We [me and my wife] went back to St. Paul, worked for a year - again, I guess I would have to… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
That [silk-screen process experience] carried over when I returned from the Army and took more graphic classes at the Institute. And Alix… — Warren MacKenzie Army Copy Share Image
Finally if I had a pot that needed decoration, I would hand it to Alix [MacKenzie] and I would say, "Can you… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
These narrow-footed forms I was making, I thought, gosh, I could push those further, not to construct them the way [Hans] Coper… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
Other thing about [Field Museum of Natural History] which inspired was that in a group of pots you wouldn't see a single… — 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 America Copy Share Image
We'll be potters, we'll be painters, we'll be textile designers, we'll be jewelers, we'll be a little this, a little of that.… — 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 Awareness 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… — 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,… — Warren MacKenzie Army 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 Apprentice 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 Art 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
I took a number of graphic courses, lithography and etching and wood engraving [at Art Institute]. And particularly as I got more… — Warren MacKenzie Art Copy Share Image
![“Remember, this is back in the 1940s, and it was sculpture which probably - in my instance probably came out of the European influence, [Alexander] Archipenko and things of that sort, [Jacques] Lipchitz to a certain extent, and I was influenced by those things and attempted to do work that emulated…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/warren-mackenzie-4654_certain_remember-this-is-back-in-the-1940s-and-i_1049731.jpg)
![“We stayed on at the Institute [Chicago called the School of Design] because that was - I don't know, you start at one place and you stay there, I guess. Inertia takes over.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bb/warren-mackenzie-4654_chicago_we-stayed-on-at-the-institute-chicago-ca_640811.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/i/008/warren-mackenzie-4654_attempting_if-you-didn-t-know-what-you-were-trying_2054709.jpg)
![“I followed [Shoji] Hamada, because I guess Alix [MacKenzie] and I, we both saw the danger that lay in planning things out on paper and then simply executing them. And with Hamada there was a much more direct sense that the piece had happened in the process of making on the wheel, and that was what…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6c/warren-mackenzie-4654_able_i-followed-shoji-hamada-because-i-guess_2116126.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/i/dd3/warren-mackenzie-4654_available_friends-of-bernard-s-leach-came-to-visit_2626681.jpg)
![“We were working from very exact models and dimensions and weights of clay to make these pots which had been designed some 10 or 12 years previous to our arriving [at Bernard's Leach studio]. And we, being, I guess you would say young, arrogant Americans, thought that we ought to be able to somehow…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/warren-mackenzie-4654_able_we-were-working-from-very-exact-models-a_2464088.jpg)
![“We had a wonderful trip, a seven-day trip, talking and sitting in the sun and so forth [with Bernard Leach]. And as we were approaching England, Leach said, "Do you have a place to live?" And we said, "No, we didn't." We hadn't worried about that. But Bernard had just separated from his second…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f06/warren-mackenzie-4654_england_we-had-a-wonderful-trip-a-seven-day-trip_1473834.jpg)
![“Bernard [Leach] had acquired many [Shoji] Hamada works. Some of them, it was interesting - first of all, Hamada worked in St. Ives for about four years before returning to Japan to start his own pottery. He had exhibitions in London, and if these exhibitions didn't sell out, the galleries were…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c0/warren-mackenzie-4654_exhibitions_bernard-leach-had-acquired-many-shoji-ha_2454863.jpg)
![“In the Leach Pottery we did most of our work on the wheel. [Bernard] Leach did a little work in the studio, which was press-molded forms, plastic clay pressed into plaster forms to make small rectangular boxes and some vase forms, which he liked to make. These were molds which had been made to an…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/warren-mackenzie-4654_boxes_in-the-leach-pottery-we-did-most-of-our_447338.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/i/17d/warren-mackenzie-4654_ancient_in-looking-at-these-pots-at-the-field-mu_1294704.jpg)
![“We were living with Bernard [Leach] in his home. He had a fantastic collection of early English and Japanese and Chinese and Korean pots and German pots, contemporary English work as well. And we had access to this collection.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/warren-mackenzie-4654_access_we-were-living-with-bernard-leach-in-his_2394143.jpg)
![“The interesting thing was we never talked about pottery. Bernard [Leach] talked about social issues; he talked about the world political situation, he talked about the economy, he talked about all kinds of things.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/028/warren-mackenzie-4654_all-kinds_the-interesting-thing-was-we-never-talke_3120313.jpg)
![“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/i/566/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_our-main-inspiration-with-alix-mackenzie_385013.jpg)
![“Living with [Bernard] Leach, who thought about pottery 24 hours a day, was a fantastic experience, and we really began to get inside his mind and understand what had motivated him to work all his life as a potter.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b51/warren-mackenzie-4654_fantastic_living-with-bernard-leach-who-thought-ab_1548049.jpg)
![“We got a great benefit from our contact with those people [Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Richard Batram] and met people that we wouldn't have probably met if we had simply worked at the pottery.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/997/warren-mackenzie-4654_benefits_we-got-a-great-benefit-from-our-contact_1723967.jpg)
![“We moved up here [to St.Paul with my wife] and started to teach, we very quickly found out we were not equipped either to teach or to run our own pottery, and so we decided that we had to have further training.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/360/warren-mackenzie-4654_decided_we-moved-up-here-to-st-paul-with-my-wife_3235179.jpg)
![“We [me and my wife] went back to St. Paul, worked for a year - again, I guess I would have to admit now, doing a rather shaky job of teaching people - but at the end of that year we returned to England and worked in the [Bernard] Leach Pottery for two and a half years.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/50b/warren-mackenzie-4654_ends_we-me-and-my-wife-went-back-to-st-paul-w_1318886.jpg)
![“That [silk-screen process experience] carried over when I returned from the Army and took more graphic classes at the Institute. And Alix [MacKenzie] and I actually began to produce a line of textiles, which had silk-screen patterns on them.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9dd/warren-mackenzie-4654_army_that-silk-screen-process-experience-carr_2465528.jpg)
![“Finally if I had a pot that needed decoration, I would hand it to Alix [MacKenzie] and I would say, "Can you do something with this?" And she'd look at it for a while and then proceed with a brush to embellish the form and enhance the form, and it was wonderful. She could bring the pot to life…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0d/warren-mackenzie-4654_brushes_finally-if-i-had-a-pot-that-needed-decor_2413257.jpg)
![“These narrow-footed forms I was making, I thought, gosh, I could push those further, not to construct them the way [Hans] Coper did but to work in my own manner but push it more toward that form. And I learned to do that and enjoyed it for a number of years.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/065/warren-mackenzie-4654_constructs_these-narrow-footed-forms-i-was-making-i_1075907.jpg)
![“Other thing about [Field Museum of Natural History] which inspired was that in a group of pots you wouldn't see a single example of this kind of pot. You would perhaps see a case with 20 different examples. So you realize that these pots could be repeated again and again, and each time there would…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/warren-mackenzie-4654_again-and-again_other-thing-about-field-museum-of-natura_494272.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/i/85d/warren-mackenzie-4654_america_we-were-more-fortunate-than-most-because_1229779.jpg)
![“We'll be potters, we'll be painters, we'll be textile designers, we'll be jewelers, we'll be a little this, a little of that. We were going to be the renaissance people [when we were young].” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fe/warren-mackenzie-4654_designer_we-ll-be-potters-we-ll-be-painters-we-ll_1403475.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/i/743/warren-mackenzie-4654_awareness_we-became-more-familiar-with-bernard-lea_1539867.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/i/49b/warren-mackenzie-4654_discussion_kathleen-blackshear-just-said-have-you-t_18002.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/i/1bf/warren-mackenzie-4654_apprentice_bernard-leach-talked-about-painting-but_1965345.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/i/db7/warren-mackenzie-4654_20th-century_we-thought-with-alix-mackenzie-if-those_265640.jpg)
![“I took a number of graphic courses, lithography and etching and wood engraving [at Art Institute]. And particularly as I got more and more into ceramics, I thought, life drawing doesn't have anything to do with ceramics.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/116/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_i-took-a-number-of-graphic-courses-litho_1045016.jpg)