Warren MacKenzie Five-Sided Button Box

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Warren MacKenzie Five-Sided Button Box

About the Item

Warren Mackenzie (born 1924) Five-sided button box, n.d. Stoneware Measures: 6 x 7 x 7 inches MacKenzie's defining moment leading to his life's work began while he was a student at The Art Institute of Chicago when he came across a simple and practical book on pottery written by renowned English potter Bernard Leach. MacKenzie became Leach's apprentice in 1950 and lived with Leach for two and a half years. Leach, who had learned pottery-making in Japan, filled his studio in England with Asian ceramics that included a number of works by Shoji Hamada, known as the father of Mashiko pottery. In this setting, MacKenzie was gradually influenced by the simplicity and subtlety of this functional mingei art, everyday ordinary art and crafts, many of which were made by unknown craftsmen. Following his return to the United States, MacKenzie built his first kiln in Minnesota. "I was born and grew up in the Midwest. I felt that this was the area that understood the kind of pots I wanted to make," says MacKenzie. In the same year, he met Shoji Hamada and Muneyoshi Yanagi. Yanagi, founder of the Mingei Movement in Japan, was the first to recognize the beauty in the humble ceramics used by the general population throughout the Edo and Meiji periods. This type of mingei ceramic was rapidly disappearing in Japan's rapid move towards a more modern urbanization. Hamada and Yanagi's philosophy of the mingei aesthetic of traditional crafts where beauty arises from an object's utility was among the many things MacKenzie learned through his interchanges with them and led him to coin the term "Mingei-sota" to describe his own pottery style. MacKenzie still works today, outside of Stillwater, Minnesota. He hopes that once his ceramics leave the gallery, they will be put to use and become a part of one's daily life. In addition to his work as a potter, MacKenzie also taught at the University of Minnesota. Through half a century of teaching, he has instructed more than three thousand students. MacKenzie has been represented by countless galleries, art institutions and museums with over one hundred solo exhibitions and over one hundred-seventy group shows throughout the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, other parts of Europe, Africa and South America. Permanent collections are held in museums such as the Mingei-kan (National Folk Art Museum) Tokyo, the Metropolitan, Smithsonian, and the Victoria and Albert among others.

Creator:
Warren MacKenzie (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)Depth: 7 in (17.78 cm)
Style:
Arts and Crafts (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Pottery,Stoneware,Glazed,Hand-Crafted
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
2000-2009
Date of Manufacture:
Unknown
Condition:
Seller Location:
Concord, MA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU102767512623