EXHIBITION: Patti Warashina: The World Upside Down

Patti Warashina: The World Upside Down

Artist Statement 

The use of the body gives affirmation to her daily existence, and serves as the subject of her own “visual diary.” Warashina draws from her daily life and has an abnormal interest in the absurdity and foibles of human behavior, in which her figures have become the actors in her introspective narratives.

Biography 

Patti Warashina, along with Robert Sperry and Howard Kottler were instrumental in bringing the Seattle ceramic scene to prominence, heading up the department at the University of Washington, Seattle, as well as producing pieces that took inspiration from the Funk movement in the Bay area but with their own interpretations. Warashina is best known for her figurative sculpture – pieces that tell stories that are often dreamlike or fantasies – and ranging in size from very small to larger-than-life. She works in low-fire polychrome ceramics, and the colors and surface decoration are both vivid and animated. While her primarily female figures clearly emerge from her own experiences, Warashina says, “They aren’t me exactly, or any version of me…. they represent what I know and what I’m curious about. When I’m curious about something else, I’ll move on."

Brought to you by The Honeywell Charitable Fund, Town of Friday Harbor,  National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsWA, Printonyx, Browne’s Home Center, and Harbor Rentals