Harrison McIntosh

Ceramicist
American, (1914–2016)

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Harrison McIntosh was member of the first generation of California studio potters. His work helped define the California aesthetic, inspired by Japanese pottery and European modern design. Raised In Stockton, California with an interest in visual arts, McIntosh attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles in 1938; studied with ceramist Glen Lukens at the University of Southern California in 1940; Richard Petterson at the Claremont Graduate School in California from1948 to 1952; and Bernard Leach at a Mills College seminar in 1950. Working with Marguerite Wildenhain during the summer of 1953, he gained his first exposure to the Bauhaus aesthetic and incorporated it into his developing style. Even after teaching with Peter Voulkos, McIntosh chose to build on his foundation in modern design rather than pursue the expressionistic approach to clay that became popular in the 1960s. McIntosh quietly charted his own course in his Claremont, California studio with 50-year studio mate Rupert Deese (see 1998 Hemisphere Drum Bowl), gently nudging the boundaries of traditional studio pottery by elevating functional objects to sculpture.He produced an internationally revered body of work that exemplifies a classical vein of the postwar crafts movement. He traveled to Japan each summer throughout the 1970s to design dinnerware and glassware for Mikasa.