Mara Superior

Mara Superior is known for porcelain works based on traditional functional or sculptural forms using sprigging and under glaze decoration on press molded or slab built wares that are strongly influenced by ...
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Biography: Mara Superior is known for porcelain works based on traditional functional or sculptural forms using sprigging and under glaze decoration on press molded or slab built wares that are strongly influenced by Superior?s interest in traditional American folk imagery, travel, and politics.
With the exception ofher early ceramics,all her work is porcelain fired in a gas kiln. Her pieces range from plates, platters, bowls, tulipi貥s, and figurinesto larger sculptural pieces. Each form serves as a surface for her elaborate, intricate under glaze painting.
The autobiographical narratives she presents in her work address themesincluding thehome as a valued place, filled with happiness and love, travel, and animals.She frequently incorporatesbirds and fish which appear in relation toher themes. Beginning in 2007 she started creating a series of works with strong political themes.
Mara Superior was one of the founders of Pinch Pottery/Ferrin Gallery in 1979 in Northampton, Massachusetts.
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Apprenticeships & Residencies: 2006

Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Residency, Newcastle, Maine
Primary Work Experience: Other
Public Collections: American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachsetts
White House Collection at the Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas
Bibliography: Buckberrough, Sherry and Nancy Noble. Women Artists at New Britain Museum. Hanover, NH and London, England: University Press of New England, 2011.
Clark, Garth. The Eccentric Teapot. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 1989.
Dietz, Ulysses G., Garth Clark, and Mark Del Vecchio. Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, 2003.
Ferrin, Leslie. Teapots Transformed. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, 2000.
Herman, Lloyd E. Art That Works, Decorative Arts of the Eighties, Crafted in America. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1990.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire, Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Rizzoli, 2000.
Monroe, Michael. The White House Collection of American Crafts. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995.
New Britain Museum of American Art. Mara Superior: A Retrospective. New Britain, CT: New Britain Museum of American Art, 2006.
Pearson, Katherine. American Crafts: A Source Book for the Home. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1984.
Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay, 3^rd ed., New York, NY: Overlook Press/Viking, 2000.
Sheehan, Laurence, Carol Sheehan and Kathryn Precourt. The Birding Life. New York, NY: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2011.
Simpson, Tommy. Hand and Home, The Homes of American Craftsmen. Boston, MA: Bulfinch Press/Little Brown & Co., 1994.
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