Patti Warashina
| Patti Warashina | |
|---|---|
| Born | Masae Patricia Warashina 1940 (age 83–84) Spokane, Washington |
| Nationality | American |
Patti Warashina (born 1940) is an American artist known for her imaginative ceramic sculptures. Her works are in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[1]
Early life
The youngest of three children, Warashina was born and raised in Spokane, Washington.[1] She received her B.F.A in 1962 and M.F.A in 1964 from the University of Washington, Seattle, where she studied with sculptors Robert Sperry, Harold Myers, Rudy Autio, Shōji Hamada, Shinsaku Hamada, and Ruth Penington.[2]
Career
Warashina’s work is often humorous, and includes "clay figures placed in imagined environments that show her subversive thinking."[3] She uses sculpture to explore such themes as the human condition, feminism, car-culture, and political and social topics.[4]
As an art student at the University of Washington in the 1960s, Warashina noticed that the environment in the ceramics studio included a somewhat macho culture; women were not included in technical discussions relating to managing the kiln. She began creating a series of figurative works that used humor to skewer this gender imbalance in the field.[5]
In 1962, Warashina had her first solo exhibition at the Phoenix Art Gallery in Seattle. Warashina's first husband was fellow student Fred Bauer, and from 1964 to 1970 exhibited as Patti Bauer.[2] In 1976, she married Robert Sperry.[6]
She began teaching in 1964 and has taught at Wisconsin State University, Eastern Michigan University, the Cornish School of Allied Arts, and the University of Washington.[7] In the 1970-1980s, Warashina, Sperry, and Howard Kottler ran the ceramics program at the University of Washington's School of Art, growing it into one of the best-known in the United States.[8] Warashina has been associated with the California Funk movement and was included in a survey of ceramic Funk Art in a ASU Ceramic Research Center's exhibition, "Humor, Irony and Wit: Ceramic Funk from the Sixties and Beyond" in 2004.[9] In 2012, American Museum of Ceramic Art introduced a retrospective exhibition "Patti Warashina: Wit and Wisdom" in Pomona, California and in 2013, the Bellevue Arts Museum showcased "Patti Warashina: Wit and Wisdom."[1]
Works
- City Reflections (2009), Portland, Oregon
Grants
- 1975: National Endowment for the Arts
- 1978: Ford Foundation
References
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External links
- Convertible Car Kiln, 1971, work in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Oral history interview with Patti Warashina, 2005 Sept. 8, Archives of American Art
- [1] Patti Warashina at the American Museum of Ceramic Art
