Patti Warashina: Clay Rendered Human
Patti Warashina: Clay Rendered Human
By Antoinette Ibarra
Patti Warashina is an American ceramic sculptor with over 55 years of working in art. Her works touch on themes such as the human condition, feminism, and other social/political topics. Her unending interest in the human form relates to her own body, which gives her the inspiration for her works. Each work serves her as reminders of her experiences, much like her personal diary entries affirming her daily existence.
Warashina reflects on these personal experiences as a way to look through the lens of human behavior. She is interested in the bizarreness inherent to the nature of humanity. The figures play the role of actors in her narratives about experiences of personal times to deliver a bigger message that we can all relate too.
Having attended the University of Washington in the 1960’s, Warashina realized the environment of the ceramics studio was male dominated. It was then she began a series highlighting this gender imbalance in the field, many times using humor to get the message across.
In her earlier studies, Warashina’s figures exhibited a mix between a “realistic” look and a more exaggerated form. She leaves the details in facial features or body extremities, in order to relate back to the one’s sense of reality. This conceptual idea also works as a means to erase identification of time, era, and nationality of works.
Her early works showed such skill that she rapidly progressed through the levels of the art world. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, she ran the ceramics program at the University of Washington’s school of art, along with Robert Sperry and Howard Kottler. The program became to be one of the best ceramics programs in the US.
She has continued to not only be a leading teacher but is one of the most important voices in contemporary ceramics today. In more recent works, Warashina does not paint clothing on her figures and instead uses basic color and abstract forms as a way to give illusion to different spatial realities. Her surface work has also been minimized. While it gives these works a more abstract quality, erasing and denying identification of time, era, and nationality of the work, it allows them to speak on the universal quirks present in all of human nature.
Luckily her work can see in many museums across the United States and internationally. Warashina has works in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2001, she received the Twining Humber Lifetime Achievement/Woman of the Year award from the Seattle’s Artist Trust. Warashina also received the University of Washington Division of the Arts Distinguished Alumna Award in 2003. 2020 even saw Warashina win the Smithsonian 2020 Visionary Artist Award where they highlighted her ability to push boundaries and pave the way for “an entire new cadre of women artists”.
Having personally worked with her fabulous art in the past, I can say their strength lies in their ability to be playful, with a twist! Every time I see a Warashina piece, they evoke whimsical feelings, kind of like being in a circus or watching circus performers. The proportions of her works are also something I find interesting and recognize the complexity in the technicality of creating her works. It is not only the form that attracts me but also her use of humor and irony draws me to her art because of the bizarreness each piece contains. The way in which these figures are posed always catches my attention!
Earlier this year I paid visit to the 76th Scripps College Ceramic Annual where one of my new favorites of her works, Brain Storm (2015), was on display. One of the things that makes this piece special to me is the use of mixed media within the piece. The top half of the work is made of glass, while the bottom is of a low-fired clay. Inside of the hat shaped glass, sits a light that shoots small rays throughout the top part of the hat, and even change color! The use of basic color combined with abstract lines gives the piece that detailed aspect. The stunning duality of glass and ceramic truly speaks for itself in this work.
This work resonates with me because of the colored lights symbolizing the brainstorming going on inside the head. I interpret this as a portrayal of the connections being made in the brain and just how animated the process can be. There does always seem like there is a light turned on with every bright idea!
Patti Warashina has an amazing way of expressing quirkiness in the most unique ways. I cannot wait to see what other sculptures she continues to create.