The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 50 no 1 April 2011

Well Read
Far left:
Bernard leach
Photo: courtesy of
The Bernard Leach
(Stlves) Trust Ltd
Lefl:
Leach and co-workers
Photo: courtesy
Warren MacKenzie
intrigue. All responses have been positive. Perhaps nostalgia plays a part in my pleasure - in the late
fifties I was making some of those 'standard ware' pots and living in one of those old Cornish buildings
near the sea. But I don't tire of watching the seemingly casual order of a well-run studio: the easy skills,
and intelligent repetition. This is a small wonder we are observing.
There is much more. Warren also made a film in 1952 to use when teaching on his return to
Minnesota. At one point there is a fine sequence of Bill Marshall making a teapot, and rare images
of Kenneth Quick's throwing; and later, in the section of the DVD when Marty Gross has a telephone
conversation with Warren about the film, we see sequences repeated, and learn far more about the lives
of the Cornish potters and insight into Bernard's generous approach.
Some still photos from the time are included in the package - one of Bernard is a masterpiece - he is
on the winter beach, balanced, it seems, in mid-stride, engrossed in his drawing with his umbrella stuck
upright in the sand .
With the DVD is a fourteen page pamphlet with more intriguing material. An article in the St Ives
Times (August 1923) told of an 'interesting visit' with a delightfully elegant description of Bernard Leach
throwing: "A touch here, a guidance there, and the clay was lifted from the wheel - a haughty and
lordly flagon, where forty seconds before there had been an un-christened lump."
A week later Bernard replied with a long letter to the ed itor describing his work and philosophy,
ending, "My co-workers and I are glad to demonstrate to anyone on Saturday mornings in the pottery,
and I make no secret of any process ... and if any process we employ should be of help or stimulus to a
student, he is welcome to it." It is a treasure to read, as is the reminiscence, written by Shoji Hamada in
1974, of those early days establishing the studio.
The printing of a discussion between Warren Mackenzie and Marty Gross in 2007 further expands
our picture and understanding of Leach and his workshop, while plans of the three-chamber kiln and
the Leach Pottery wheel, together with illustrations and a listing of some of the Leach Pottery standard
ware, completes the picture. A drawing by Bernard, of himself as the slave driver, ends the story with a
smile.
Review by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Tokyo, December 2010
102 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2011