“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].” PeopleLittlesYoungPainterDesignerPottersRenaissanceTextiles Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 Africa or Europe or wherever, the pots that people had used in their homes were the ones that excited us.” PeopleThinkingMeanHomeUsedFieldsEuropeEverydayAncientExcitedConclusionMuseumsPotEveryday LifeGreeceAncient Greece Author:Warren MacKenzie
“I find it really enriching to make pots which people are using and which they come in contact with, not only visually in their homes but tactilely - when they pick them up, when they wash them after dinner, and so on and so forth.” PeopleHomePicksDinnerContactPotEnriching Author:Warren MacKenzie
“This is something which I think I have been able to communicate to both people I have taught and people that have purchased our work since that time, that they all say, it's so nice to have these pots with us all the time and to eat out of them and be in direct contact with them in our homes.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensHomeAbleNiceTaughtDirectCommunicateContactPot Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 really felt his job - part of his job, as an assistant [to the] director was to make the collection available to interested people.” PeopleThinkingMenFirstsIdeasJobsRememberFeltSceneDirectorsDirectDecidedAvailableContactRanCollectionsMuseumsGalleryAssistantsMarty Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” PeopleYearsTwoEndsJobsHalfWifeTeachingEnglandMy WifePotteryHalf A Year Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 a paycheck every Friday afternoon. So if we had not made pots that would sell it, would not have been possible for these people to be employed.” PeopleIfsChildrenHas BeensMadeRaisesSellsPotAfternoonDozenLooking BackEmployedFridayPaychecksPotteryFriday Afternoon Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 and talk with the older artists also. And they would come to dinner, and we would simply be included in the conversation, which was quite fascinating.” PeopleThinkingWellsI CanArtistNumbersMetsConversationDinnerFascinatingPeterPrivilegedFrostBarbaraNicholson Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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? I think it was called the Cornish Potters Society, but I'm not sure of that. Anyway, they had meetings and we would go with Leach to these meetings and meet other potters, and they would have programs where they would discuss pottery and people would interchange ideas.” PeopleThinkingMadeIdeasGivenGroupsProgramMeetingsAvailableLondonNot SureIntroductionPottersPotteryInterchange Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” PeopleIfsMetsBenefitsContactPottery Author:Warren MacKenzie
“If you press-mold a pot or if you slab-build a pot, the work has got to take much, much, much longer than if you work on the wheel. And I to this day have the ideal that I want my work to be not too expensive, so that if people buy it and break it, it's not going to be the end of the world. I'm not interested in having things in museums, although some of our work has ended up there, but that's not what I'm striving for.” PeopleIfsWorldWantEndsBreakIdealsPressesStriveWheelsExpensiveThis DayMuseumsPotNot InterestedEnd Of The WorldMoldSlabs Author:Warren MacKenzie
“I'm striving to make things which are the most exciting things I can make that will fit in people's homes. And in that respect, working on the wheel is economically about the only answer I know, because one can, as Leach said, make 50 pots in a day. You can make 100 pots in a day. A really good potter can make 400 pots in a day.” PeopleKnowsSaidI CanHomeAnswersFitExcitingStriveWheelsPotPottersExciting Things Author:Warren MacKenzie