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Warren MacKenzie

Biography to Display: 

Born 1924 Kansas City, Missouri

Died 2018  Stillwater, Minnesota

 

EDUCATION

1941-1943Painting, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1946-1947BFA Ceramics, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

1950-1952Apprenticed to Bernard Leach, St. Ives, Cornwall, England

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1953-1990Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

1981-1985Department Chair, Studio Arts, University of Minnesota

1953-2018Pottery studio, Stillwater Farm, Stillwater, Minnesota

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1950-1952Apprentice to Bernard Leach, St. Ives, England

BIOGRAPHY 

Warren MacKenzie is known for simple, wheel-thrown functional pottery influenced by Bernard Leach and the Japanese aesthetic seen in the work of Shoji Hamada.

In 1950 MacKenzie and his first wife Alix became the first American apprentices at the Bernard Leach pottery at St. Ives. They spent 2 years there where they met Shoji Hamada.

The MacKenzies brought Leach and Hamada for a workshop tour of the United States in 1952. This tour had a far-reaching impact on the American studio pottery movement. MacKenzie is credited with bringing the Japanese Mingei, or folk, style of pottery to Minnesota, where it is known as the Mingei-sota style.  Most of his pieces are produced in stoneware, although he worked in porcelain at times during his career. His first wife, Alix, decorated his pots until her death in 1962. At times during the 1970s and most of the 2000s, MacKenzie did not sign his work. He resumed the use of his chop at the end of 2009.

An interview with Warren MacKenzie conducted October 19, 2002, by Robert Silberman for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-warren-mackenzie-12417.

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Chunichi Shimbun Collection, Nagoya, Japan

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Grinnell College Museum, Grinnell, Iowa

Joslyn Museum, Omaha, Nebraska

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota History Museum, St. Paul, Minnesota

Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, Minnesota

Museum of Applied Art, Helsinki, Finland

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

National Folk Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Scripps College, Claremont, California

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Clark, Garth. American Ceramics: 1876 to Present. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 1987.

Clark, Garth. American Potters: The Work of Twenty Modern Masters. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1981.

Donhauser, Paul S. History of American Ceramics: The Studio Potter. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing, 1978.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics From Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms, 1607 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Peterson, Susan. Contemporary Ceramics. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000.

Rochester Art Center. Warren Mackenzie: Legacy of an American Potter. San Francisco, CA: Museum of Craft and Folk Art, 2009.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Souce: McKnight Artist Award Brochure, 1999

 

 

Center for CraftCenter For Craft

 

 

AMOCA American Museum of Ceramic ArtAMOCA American Museum of Ceramic Art

 

Typical Marks
1951-1952
1953-1962
ca 2000
ca 2000
Jar
Date: ca 2000
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Shino Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Plate
Date: fired 2014
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Teapot
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Bowl
Form: Bowl
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Cup and Saucer
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Plate
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze, Slip Trailing
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Bottle
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Bowls
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Courtesy thenevicaproject.com
Yunomi
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Teapot
Materials: Mixed Media, Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
The Clay Studio Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photo: TMP
The Clay Studio Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photo: TMP
Tea Bowl
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Skinner Auctioneers, 06, 21, 2018, Lot #236
Courtesy Skinner Auctioneers, 06, 21, 2018, Lot #236
Tea Bowl
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Skinner Auctioneers, 06, 21, 2018, Lot #237
Courtesy Skinner Auctioneers, 06, 21, 2018, Lot #237
Covered Jar
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 84.1.7
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 84.1.7
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Lidded Container
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.723
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.723
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Teapot with Bamboo Handle
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.712
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.712
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Vase
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.753
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 78.1.753
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Drop Rim Bowl
Date: 2000
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 5 x 11.25"
Surface Technique: Incised, Shino Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Salt Shaker
Date: 1978
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.292
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.292
Platter
Date: ca 1988-1989
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 13.7 inches in diameter
Surface Technique: Glaze
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.173
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.173
Bowl
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Dimensions: 4.5" x 4' x 4"
Surface Technique: Glaze
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, gift of Ingrid Lilligren, um2019.236.10.2022.jb
Photo: ISU
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, gift of Ingrid Lilligren, um2019.236.10.2022.jb
Photo: ISU

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified September 2, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/mackenzie