“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 clay.” KnowsShouldYearsArtClassConditionsYears AgoVery GoodThis DayChicagoClayScholarshipInstituteCeramics Author:Warren MacKenzie
“In fact, I believe to a certain extent a person today who starts with just clay, with no drawing and no painting and no figure drawing, still-life drawing, various things, they miss a great deal.” BelievePersonsStillsFactsTodayCertainI BelieveDealsMissingFiguresPaintingVariousDrawingClayStill Life Author:Warren MacKenzie
“In working on a drawing or a painting, one can rework and rework and rework and change ideas until you get it the way you think is right at that time. With clay that's not possible. You either succeed the first time, or you should wad it up and start over again, because you can't mess around with the clay and still have it fresh.” ThinkingWayShouldFirstsStillsIdeasPaintingSucceedFirst TimeDrawingMessClayStarting OverRework Author:Warren MacKenzie
“When we worked at the pottery, we did learn to make pots, that is, the physical act of making the pot. We learned to control clay, to put it where you want it and not just wherever it wanted to go, and that was valuable. At the end of about six months, though, I think if that was all we had, we may have been inclined to leave because the workshop did not challenge us so much as living with [Bernard] Leach did.” IfsThinkingWantMayHas BeensEndsWantedChallengesMonthsSixValuablePotSix MonthsClayWorkshopsPottery Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” PersonsMadeBookFactsPersonalitySeriesMade ItPotClay Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 express ourselves a little bit more in the daily work of the pottery.” YearsLittlesAbleYoungBitsOughtLittle BitModelsWeightStudiosDimensionsPotArrogantClayArrivingPotteryDaily Work Author:Warren MacKenzie
“[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 to remind him of something he had in his mind, so that when he then went to the studio, that would stick in his mind and he could explore the making of the pot with the clay on the wheel.” MindLittlesDoneWantedRememberLinesQualityPiecesSticksStudiosDrawingArtisticLandscapeWheelsPotFurnitureClayOne Line Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 original that he had modeled in solid clay, and during our work there, sometimes I would be pressing these forms as a means of production.” MeanLittlesMadeSometimesWould BeFormOriginalsPressesProductionsBoxesStudiosWheelsPlasticClayMoldPotteryVasesPlasters Author:Warren MacKenzie
“Since your time is your main involvement here - I mean, the clay doesn't cost very much. Even the glaze and the firing doesn't cost a great deal. But your time is the cost, and if you can keep your time to a minimum and still come out with the results you want, that means the pots can be sold for an economic price.” IfsWantMeanStillsResultsDealsEconomicCostPotMinimumClayInvolvementFiring Author:Warren MacKenzie