“Robert von Neumann taught painting, and when I finally got into a painting class of his, he reacted in much the same way.” Quote by Warren MacKenzie
“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 you might look at and ways in which you could improve what you were attempting to do, etc - never worked on your painting, never touched your painting but talked extensively about what you were trying to do.” IfsWayTryingWellsLooksMightBehindsClassFiguresPaintingModelsCome UpWanderEtcTouchedAttemptingVon NeumannFigure Painting Author:Warren MacKenzie
“If you didn't know what you were trying to do, [Robert von Neumann] wouldn't say a word. He would just turn and walk away. So you very quickly learned to think that you'd better be attempting to do something in that painting class.” IfsThinkingKnowsTryingTurnsWalksClassPaintingAttemptingVon Neumann Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” ThinkingTwoTeacherFantasticThink For YourselfVon Neumann Author:Warren MacKenzie
“We [with Alix MacKenzie] had decided we needed further training, and certainly Leach was the one we turned to. So we went to England this summer and we took examples of our work along with us and showed them to Bernard Leach and told him what we were trying to do. And of course he took one look at our work and he said - very quickly he said, "I'm sorry, we're full up," and this was his way of politely saying, you just don't make the cut.” WayTryingLooksSaidCoursesCuttingExampleNeededSummerTrainingDecidedEnglandSorryI'm Sorry Author:Warren MacKenzie
“Every day we'd trudge up the hill - it was a three-quarter-mile walk up this steep hill to the Leach Pottery, and we would take our lunch with us and generally, I guess, make a nuisance of ourselves.” ThreeWalksMilesHillsLunchQuartersSteepNuisancePottery Author:Warren MacKenzie
“We asked a lot of questions and we watched everyone who was working in the studio. And we had an opportunity to sit in on discussions, aesthetic discussions at the pottery, which took place generally over tea breaks in the morning and afternoon. So we learned a lot just from being around there [with Bernard Leach ].” OpportunityBreakMorningStudiosTeaDiscussionAfternoonAestheticPottery Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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 last opportunity to talk with him, so we said yes. We didn't realize Bernard's kiln watch was from 1:00 in the morning until 4:00 AM.” IfsSaidStillsTwoEndsBigsLastsOpportunityRealizingWatchesMorningWeekSittingOilTwo WeeksBig Oil Author:Warren MacKenzie
“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.” WorldKindPoliticalSocialInterestingSituationEconomyIssuesAll KindsSocial IssuesInteresting ThingsPottery 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