Wright Auction

Patti Warashina was born in Seattle, Washington in 1940. She is called the queen of Northwest ceramics. In the 1960s, she was part of a cadre of young rebel artists who expanded the boundaries of clay as an art medium. She began teaching in 1964 and helped grow the ceramics program at the University of Washington’s School of Art, into one of the best-known in the United States. 

Warashina’s work is often humorous, and she uses sculpture to explore such themes as the human condition, feminism, the macho car-culture, and political and social topics. She often places clay figures in imagined environments and to tell stories.

In 1984, the Seattle Arts Commission chose her for a prestigious public-art commission that became one of the city’s most celebrated artworks. A Procession, a 4’ by 10’ x 3’ tableau built of whiteware and mixed media, includes 72 figures parading over—and floating under—a bridge, like a triumphal arch, each depicting a recognizable person in the Seattle art world, artists, sculptors, art critics. A Procession is in the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle. 

Warashina’s work is in the permanent collection of Smithsonian American Art’s Renwick Gallery and in more than twenty museums in the U.S., Asia, England, and Australia. She has received numerous awards and in 2005, was interviewed for Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. A Professor Emerita at the University of Washington, Warashina dedicated decades to teaching ceramics, considered by some to be the most difficult and challenging of all art media.

pattiwarashina.com
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Wright is pleased to include The Smithsonian Women’s Committee Visionary Benefit Auction within our Art & Design sale on April 21st. This special section features works created by past and present Smithsonian Visionary Artists and by the winners of the new Smithsonian Women’s Committee Delphi Award. 

The Smithsonian Visionary Award, established in 2014, is presented annually to artists who are deemed by curators in the field to have risen to the pinnacle in the world of sculptural arts and design, who have works in major museums, and who have demonstrated distinction, creativity, artistry, and, of course, vision in his or her respective medium.  

This extraordinary event features works by current and past recipients of the Visionary Award including Mary Lee Hu, Chunghi Choo, David Ellsworth, Michael Hurwitz, Patti Warashina, Toots Zynsky, Wendell Castle, and Albert Paley.

The Delphi Award was created in 2020 and is presented annually to one or more mid-career artists who demonstrate distinction, creativity, and exceptional artistry in their work, and who are predicted by experts in the field to reach the pinnacle of sculptural arts and design. Roberto Lugo was one of the initial recipients of the Delphi Award in 2021.  

All lots in the Visionary Benefit Auction are of the primary market, unless otherwise indicated. The auction raises funds to support projects and initiatives across the Smithsonian institution. All works will be shipped directly from the artist or the gallery.