When we finished [training with my wife] we came to St. Paul, because St. Paul was the first place where we got… — Warren MacKenzie Art Copy Share Image
We did respect [Bernard Leach], although we also were willing to challenge ideas and at least put forth our feelings about the… — Warren MacKenzie Argument 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 fact, I believe to a certain extent a person today who starts with just clay, with no drawing and no painting… — Warren MacKenzie Artist Copy Share Image
I do remember that when we left [Bernard Leach] after two and a half years, we went home on a boat again… — 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 Approach 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 Book 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… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
If you press-mold a pot or if you slab-build a pot, the work has got to take much, much, much longer than… — 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
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
Bernard [Leach] knew Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Johnny Wells. I can think of a number of people that… — Warren MacKenzie Artist 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,… — Warren MacKenzie Big oil Copy Share Image
If you take Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, their work didn't even relate to what we were trying to do, because they… — Warren MacKenzie Artist 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
[In the Field Museum of Natural History] we could see very simple, primitive, hand-built pottery from Babylonia and ancient Egypt and so… — Warren MacKenzie Ancient 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 Accents 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 Fantastic 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 Army Copy Share Image
[Shoji] Hamada's [drawings] were little one-line notations of something he wanted to remember about a pot or a piece of furniture or… — Warren MacKenzie Artistic 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
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
Here is this ability to explore ideas, but with minute changes, and then look at the results. Often you get so excited… — Warren MacKenzie Ability Copy Share Image
I make a lot of pots in a year's time and some of them are good and some of them are mediocre… — Warren MacKenzie Ashamed 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
Looking back on it now, I understand why that was not possible [to express ourselves], because the pottery employed a dozen people,… — 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 Challenges Copy Share Image
I don't know, it's very difficult if you're in a strange country to just barge in and say, "Hello, I'm Warren MacKenzie,… — Warren MacKenzie Copy Share Image
![“When we finished [training with my wife] we came to St. Paul, because St. Paul was the first place where we got a job offer and we needed some sort of a job to earn some money in order to set up our own studio. It's rather ironic that this job offer came originally through the Walker Art Center.” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ad/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_when-we-finished-training-with-my-wife-w_2976536.jpg)
![“We did respect [Bernard Leach], although we also were willing to challenge ideas and at least put forth our feelings about the way the pottery was run, about things that were done, about the pots we were making, etc. And we would get into sometimes some very fierce arguments. We'd be shouting at…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33b/warren-mackenzie-4654_argument_we-did-respect-bernard-leach-although-we_1230748.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/i/150/warren-mackenzie-4654_decoration_alix-mackenzie-on-the-other-hand-found-t_1028664.jpg)
![“I do remember that when we left [Bernard Leach] after two and a half years, we went home on a boat again - this was before air travel became really easy - and Alix [MacKenzie] turned to me and she said, "You know, that was a great two years of training, but that's not the way we're going to run…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/warren-mackenzie-4654_air_i-do-remember-that-when-we-left-bernard_1214561.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/i/1a1/warren-mackenzie-4654_approach_bernard-leach-was-making-pots-which-were_298982.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/i/cb5/warren-mackenzie-4654_book_i-used-to-think-shoji-hamada-never-drew_3123577.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/i/fae/warren-mackenzie-4654_attempting_it-was-a-figure-painting-class-where-you_1968927.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/i/a47/warren-mackenzie-4654_artist_bernard-leach-knew-ben-nicholson-barbara_1834433.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/i/6dd/warren-mackenzie-4654_big-oil_at-the-end-of-that-two-weeks-bernard-lea_146880.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/i/ddb/warren-mackenzie-4654_assistants_remember-this-is-back-in-the-40s-and-the_105550.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/i/8fc/warren-mackenzie-4654_ancient_in-the-field-museum-of-natural-history-w_183538.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/i/db8/warren-mackenzie-4654_fantastic_those-two-teachers-kathleen-blackshear-a_1979320.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/i/e62/warren-mackenzie-4654_army_in-the-middle-of-my-second-year-at-schoo_674284.jpg)
![“[Shoji] Hamada's [drawings] were little one-line notations of something he wanted to remember about a pot or a piece of furniture or a landscape or something like that, and they were just done very quickly and they had, he thought, no artistic quality. They're not great drawings, but they served…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f43/warren-mackenzie-4654_artistic_shoji-hamada-s-drawings-were-little-one_2030891.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/i/5c2/warren-mackenzie-4654_conditions_in-fact-bernard-leach-was-several-genera_506681.jpg)
![“Looking back on it now, I understand why that was not possible [to express ourselves], because the pottery employed a dozen people, not all of whom are making pots. And these people had families, children, and they had to have a wage that would allow them to raise their family and they had to get…” quote by Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c6/warren-mackenzie-4654_afternoon_looking-back-on-it-now-i-understand-why_1308684.jpg)
