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Quote by Warren MacKenzie

“Eventually we even got to the point where we could disagree with [Bernard Leach]. I mean, when we first went there, gee, I mean, this was a man who had written a book. He was, in a sense, God, and we for the first couple of weeks called him Mr. Leach.”

Quote by Warren MacKenzie

Author

Warren MacKenzie

Limited information is available about Warren MacKenzie, who was born on February 16, 1924, and whose profession is unknown. more

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“We became more familiar with [Bernard Leach], and with this familiarity came, I wouldn't say contempt, but certainly an awareness that everything that he said was not necessarily what we were thinking. That doesn't mean it was wrong, but Leach was a person out of a different generation.”

Thinking Mean Persons Said Different Generations Awareness Familiar Contempt Familiarity Different Generations

Author:Warren MacKenzie

“In fact, [Bernard Leach] was several generations removed from us. At that time we were there, I think Alix [MacKenzie] and I were 26 and 28, and Leach was about 63, and we thought he was a very old man. I used to always want to help him up the stairs in the house for fear he'd fall. Actually, he was in excellent condition and lived to be much, much older than we ever expected.”

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Author:Warren MacKenzie

“We did respect [Bernard Leach], although we also were willing to challenge ideas and at least put forth our feelings about the way the pottery was run, about things that were done, about the pots we were making, etc. And we would get into sometimes some very fierce arguments. We'd be shouting at one another because of disagreements.”

Way Ideas Sometimes Done Feelings Running Challenges Willing Argument Etc Pot Fierce Disagreement Shouting Pottery

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.”

Persons Made Book Facts Personality Series Made It Pot Clay

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.”

Years Littles Able Young Bits Ought Little Bit Models Weight Studios Dimensions Pot Arrogant Clay Arriving Pottery Daily Work

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.”

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Author:Warren MacKenzie

“We could make our own pots on the weekends and in the evenings, and we used to do that, and these would be fired in the big kiln, along with all the standard ware that we were producing, but this wasn't quite what we had expected when we read The Potters Book.”

Book Bigs Would Be Used Standards Expected Evening Pot Weekend Potters

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."”

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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.”

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Author:Warren MacKenzie

“Alix [ MacKenzie] had stopped teaching because we had a child and she stayed home to take care of the baby, and I taught.”

Children Home Care Teaching Taught Baby Take Care

Author:Warren MacKenzie