“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 looked at the catalogue and found that there was a ceramic class offered and that there was space in that. I registered for a ceramic class and some drawing classes.” YearsWantedSchoolThreeFoundSpaceClassGoneMiddlePaintingArmyBillsDrawingThree YearsCataloguesGisCeramics Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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
“[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."” IfsWantYearsMindWellsSaidEndsChangedPaintingEveningWorkshopsApprenticeI've ChangedCeramics 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
“It was a wonderful opportunity. And so for two and a half years we lived with [Bernard] Leach.” YearsTwoOpportunityHalfWonderfulHalf A Year 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
“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 our pottery."” KnowsWayYearsSaidTwoHomeRunningRememberLeftEasyHalfAirTrainingBoatTwo YearsPotteryHalf A YearAir Travel Author:Warren MacKenzie
“We never had a catalogue; we never said we were going to duplicate these pots this year and next year and the year after that and so forth. We did make many pots which were repeated, but we allowed them to change and to grow as we changed and grew, and I think that was the big difference. And that's all right; we were working for ourselves. We didn't have anybody we had to pay.” ThinkingYearsSaidBigsNextGrowsDifferencesPayChangedGrewPotNext YearCataloguesDuplicate Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 instructed to send the remaining work down to the Leach Pottery, where they would go into the showroom for sale. If Bernard saw one that hadn't sold that he really admired, then he would take it (he would buy it), and it would go into the house.” IfsYearsFirstsHouseInterestingSawsFourSellsLondonJapanFour YearsGalleryExhibitionsPotteryShowroom Author:Warren MacKenzie
“I make a lot of pots in a year's time and some of them are good and some of them are mediocre and some of them are bad. If they're really bad and I'd be ashamed of them, I throw them out, but if they're mediocre and they'll serve the purpose for which they're designed, that is, a mixing bowl or a soup bowl or a plate or whatever, I sell them. And this income from the sale of these pots permits me to go on and make other pots. It's even more important now that I've quit teaching, because I do not have a teacher's salary to fall back on.” IfsYearsImportantPurposeFallTeacherTeachingGoes OnSellsQuittingIncomeAshamedPotPermitPlatesBowlsMediocreSoupSalaryMixingFall Back Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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, and aren't you happy to have me as a guest," you know? But artists did accept us and we remained friends for many, many years, many of them as long as they lived; like Lucie Rie and Hans Coper were very good friends, and it was wonderful.” IfsKnowsYearsLongCountryArtistDifficultAcceptingWonderfulStrangeVery GoodGuestsGood FriendHelloVery Good FriendsBarges Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 to create what he called a spade form, which you can imagine looks a little bit like a shovel upside down.” YearsLooksLittlesMadeDifferentTogetherFormBitsSawsCuttingImagineLittle BitYears AgoDiedJoiningUpside DownExhibitionsShovelsSpadesVasesCatalogues Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” WayYearsFormMy OwnNumbersEnjoyedConstructs Author:Warren MacKenzie
“In school we did all sorts of things, molds, slab building. We were not very proficient on the wheel because the woman who taught was not proficient on the wheel. And so we learned from her assistant who had learned from her assistant the year before and so on, and that was not very good training.” YearsSchoolBuildingTaughtTrainingVery GoodWheelsMoldAssistantsSlabs Author:Warren MacKenzie