Collection Focus: Mara Superior at RAM
Blending past and present day concerns, notions of Americana, and personal experience, Mara Superior playfully both challenges and adds to a history of porcelain decorative objects and tableware. With a singular aesthetic that feels reverent yet unique, Superior builds narratives that unfold through images, words, and form. She has gained attention due, in part, to her work’s approachability. While acknowledging the “feminine” side of her work with choices in content, color palette, and ornament, Superior depicts whatever is impacting her at the moment––never shying from contemporary topics––while pushing the possibilities of her chosen medium. This publication marks a significant moment in Superior’s relationship with the Racine Art Museum. It is produced to coincide with the debut of a multi-piece gift from the Kohler Foundation, Inc. that catapults RAM’s holdings of work by Superior from two pieces, already gifted by other donors, to 33. Now, she is not only a RAM archive artist and the most collected female ceramic artist but also the second most collected ceramic artist regardless of gender. RAM’s holdings of Superior’s work include platters, teapots, vessels, and a collaborative piece with her late husband, sculptor and furniture maker, Roy Superior. Spanning over three decades, from 1982 to 2018, RAM’s collection emphasizes Superior’s personal history—her connection to art and ceramic history, her appreciation for “home” and ideas about the domestic, and her love of travel. While these are not the only topics Superior addresses in her work, they are foundational ones and provide a layered and nuanced accounting of the artist’s approach to working with porcelain. Describing Superior’s work in the terms of its functional inspiration— platters, teapots, vessels—is useful but only marginally evocative of what she produces. Her work is sculptural and always narrative—with that story sometimes weaving in ideas of functionality such as the teapots titled A Tea Party, 1985 (fig 2) and A Tea House, 1988 (fig 1). A Tea Party
Figure 3 Mara Superior Amphora/Continuum, 1986 English Grolleg porcelain, Cornwall stone glaze, ceramic oxides, underglazes, faux marble paint, and brass pins; wooden base made by Roy Superior 18 5/8 x 24 5/8 x 8 7/8 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Kohler Foundation, Inc. Photography by Jon Bolton
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