Traver Gallery is thrilled to present The World Upside Down, an extraordinary new exhibition by renowned artist Patti Warashina. Warashina, whose work in clay spans 60 years, is deeply fascinated with human nature. Best known for her figurative work in clay, she utilizes both the form and the surface to depict narratives that delve into the peculiarities of human experience, politics, current events, and consciousness.
Warashina says of this exhibition, “In this series of work called, The World Upside Down, I view the earth as an uncontrolled symbolic, spinning ceramic wheel, in space to give a glimpse of looking at our planet from above. To me, the figures represent human consciousness observing and experiencing the realization of possible escape from annihilation portrayed through dreamlike, cosmic scenarios using current and future space technology. These figures have become the actors in my introspective narratives, as a way of escaping the doubts and disharmony of human nature and its routines, by role-playing scenarios to my liking, much like a child playing with dolls.”
Patti Warashina was born in Spokane, Washington, in 1940. She earned both her BFA and MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1964. She holds the title Professor Emerita, having retired from the University of Washington after 30 years of teaching.
Her awards include the American Craft Council Gold Medalist 2022; Smithsonian’s 2020 Visionary Artist Award; 2018 United States Artists Fellowship Award; 1994 American Craft Council Fellow; three NEA Grants; a “Lifetime Achievement Award/Woman of the Year -2001” Artist Trust, Seattle; and “Distinguished Alumnus Award” in 2003 from the University of Washington, Seattle. She was invited by and given travel grants by the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean governments to participate in their cultural exchange programs. She has been awarded public commissions by King County Arts Commission, Seattle Arts Commission, Tri-Met Public Art (Portland, OR), and Vulcan Real Estate. She was awarded a “Special Commendation from the Governor of Washington State” in 1989.
Ms. Warashina was honored with two 50-year retrospective exhibitions in 2012 and 2013 at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), and the Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA, respectively. Two books have been written about Warashina’s career as a ceramic artist, Patti Warashina: Wit and Wisdom, published by AMOCA for the 2012 retrospective, and Patti Warashina, published by Natsoulas Press in 2021.
Her public collections include works in the Smithsonian, Washington, DC; American Craft Museum, New York City; Mint Museum, North Carolina; American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA; L.A County Art Museum; University of Washington Meany Hall and University Medical Center, Seattle; the Detroit, Seattle, and Tacoma Art Museums; as well as international museums such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Australia’s Perth Cultural Center; and Korea’s Inchon World Ceramic Center.