Warashina’s work is often humorous, and includes "clay figures placed in imagined environments that show her subversive thinking." She uses sculpture to explore such themes as the human condition, feminism, car-culture, and political and social topics. 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. 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 she exhibited as Patti Bauer. 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. During the 1970s and 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. Warashina has been associated with the California Funk movement. Her artwork was included in a survey of ceramic
Funk Art organized by Arizona State University's Ceramic Research Center in Tempe, Arizona titled,
Humor, Irony and Wit: Ceramic Funk from the Sixties and Beyond in 2004. Warashina has held a number of major solo exhibitions including the retrospective
Patti Warashina: Wit and Wisdom at the
American Museum of Ceramic Art in
Pomona, California in 2012, and at the
Bellevue Arts Museum in
Bellevue, Washington in 2013. == Awards and recognition ==