warren mackenzie: legacy of an american potter
MAY 19, 2007 – AUGUST 26, 2007
Recognized as a true master of 20th Century ceramic art, this comprehensive retrospective presents seminal works produced by Warren MacKenzie over a fifty-year period (1948-2006). Representing various styles, forms, and approaches to the art of clay, this exhibition will undoubtedly shed new light on the life and work of one of America’s foremost studio potters. Warren MacKenzie’s life and work reflects the changing role of the ceramic artist in society, from the early modern philosophy of producing works for industry to the emergence of the individual studio potter in the 1950’s.
Through his traditional, wheel thrown stoneware vessels, Warren MacKenzie embodies not only the fusion of influences of Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada and Soetsu Yanagi but also his own unique vision where art and life are one, and where the presence of the potter’s hand is felt and touched through the utilitarian pots that are produced for use in everyday life.
This exhibition traces the art of Warren MacKenzie through works on loan from over thirty institutional and individual collections. The exhibition explores Warren MacKenzie’s development as a potter from his early studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to his unique experiences working with the world-renowned ceramic artists Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. The exhibition will present over 350 works, an audio station, photographs, didactic materials, films, gallery guide and a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Rob Silberman and Catherine Futter.
Born in 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri, Warren MacKenzie studied ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1947 he graduated from the School and married Alix Kolesky, his collaborator in pottery until her death in 1962. In 1948 Warren and Alix moved to Minnesota to teach ceramics, sculpture, and design at the St. Paul Gallery and School of Art. Over the next fourteen years Warren and Alix apprenticed with Bernard Leach, met Shoji Hamada and other internationally acclaimed potters, and established a pottery studio in Stillwater, Minnesota. In 1953 Warren began teaching ceramics at the University of Minnesota and in 1954 the Walker Art Center presented the MacKenzies’ first exhibition of pottery from their new studio. In 1966 MacKenzie was promoted to full professor at the University of Minnesota, he chaired the Department of Studio Arts from 1981 to 1985, and retired from the university in 1990. In 1984, MacKenzie married fiber artist Nancy Spitzer and continues to work at their home and studio in Stillwater, Minnesota.
Among other numerous awards, Warren MacKenzie was named a Regent’s Professor, a Fellow of the International Academy of Ceramics, and was the first to receive the Minnesota Governor’s Award in Crafts in 1986. In 1997 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Minnesota Crafts Council and in 1998 was honored with the Gold Medal from the American Crafts Council. His work is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; The National Folk Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan; the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England; Contemporary American Crafts Museum in New York; Bernard Leach Study Collection in Bath, England, the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul; the Weisman Art Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis.
Above: Photos by Peter Lee.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
A fully illustrated 136-page catalogue accompanies the exhibition with over 100 images and essays by Catherine Futter, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Nelson Atkins Museum, and Rob Silberman, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota. The catalogue also includes a curator’s statement, an artist biography, bibliography, and a comprehensive plates section features the artworks and their lenders. Catalogues will be presented in handmade wooden boxes.
*Catalogues will be for sale beginning May 19.
EXHIBITION RELATED EVENTS
OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, May 19, 2007 • 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
$10 Art Center members/$12 non-members
PANEL DISCUSSION
With Warren MacKenzie, Catherine Futter, Rob Silberman and Randy Johnston
Saturday, May 19, 2007 • 3:00 pm • Free with paid admission
THE GALLERY SHOP CERAMIC TRUNK SHOW
Saturday, May 19th • 10:00 am – 3:00 pm • Grand Lobby
Shop an expanded selection of works and meet regional ceramic artists
WARREN MACKENZIE CATALOGUE SIGNING
May 19th • 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm and 7:30 pm – 8 pm only.
FREE FAMILY DAYS: THE ART OF CLAY
Saturday, June 2, 2007 • 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm • See page 10.
All events are located at the Rochester Art Center. For more information call 507.282.8629 or visit www.rochesterartcenter.org
EXHIBITION TOURING SCHEDULE
• Rochester Art Center
May 19, 2007 – August 26, 2007
• North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
September 18, 2007 – January 20, 2008
• Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houson, TX
August 29, 2008 – November 30, 2008
• Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
March 20, 2009 – May 17, 2009
• Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco, CA
June 11, 2009 – September 13, 2009
• Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
October 10, 2009 – January 3, 2010
Support for this exhibition is generously provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation.
Additional support for this exhibition is provided in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
The Rochester Art Center thanks the following individuals for their generous support of this exhibition.
SUPPORTING SPONSORS:
Minnesota Potters of the Upper Saint Croix River Valley
Walter and Joan Mondale
Burton and Judy Onofrio
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT:
Charles Fuller and Constance Mayeron Cowles
Nancy d’Estang
Sandy Simon and Bob Brady
Charles L. Thiesenhusen and Earl F. Charvet
Reverend Richard Hillstrom