Warren MacKenzie was born in 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri. He studied ceramics at an art school, but was dissatisfied with with his degree of training and in 1949 went with his wife, Alix, to study with Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall.

Leach was a great influence on him, teaching him to develop his perception and his attitude to life so that his best qualities would show themselves in his pots. The MacKenzies lived for two years in the Pottery Cottage with Leach and absorbed much that would shape their future.

In 1952 they returned to the United States and Warren took up a lecturing post at the University of Minnesota. They moved into a farmhouse and built a kiln. Warren threw pots on a kick wheel and Alix decorated them until her death in 1962.

Warren is a master of form. He uses colour and texture with skill and confidence. His work is highly regarded and he is a very popular potter.