Apprentice Quote by Warren MacKenzie
![“[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)
“[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."”
About This Quote
Source Interview: Conversation with Warren MacKenzie, date unknown
The speaker notes that Bernard Leach initially dismissed ceramics but later offered apprenticeship, showing openness to change and mentorship
In simple terms: Bernard Leach first refused then offered a chance to learn ceramics
Key Takeaway
Be open to unexpected opportunities and mentorship
Themes
art
mentorship
flexibility
Mood
hopeful
inspired
Type
advice
reflective
When to use this quote
- art school
- career shift
- skill development
- networking
Key Concepts
craftsmanship
apprenticeship
open-mindedness
Questions to Reflect On
- What would you do if a mentor changed their mind?
- How can you stay receptive to new offers?
A Different Perspective
Opportunity may arise after initial rejection; timing matters
![“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/img-quotes/028/warren-mackenzie-4654_all-kinds_the-interesting-thing-was-we-never-talke_3120313.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)
![“[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/img-quotes/d2b/warren-mackenzie-4654_beautiful_bernard-leach-was-an-incredible-draftsma_1663627.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/img-quotes/b8d/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_what-i-didn-t-know-at-the-time-of-my-sch_1457260.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/img-quotes/116/warren-mackenzie-4654_art_i-took-a-number-of-graphic-courses-litho_1045016.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 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)
![“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)
![“[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)
