Mara grew up in New York City graduated from the High School of Art & Design. She studied at The Pratt Institute and the Hartford Art School, earned a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Connecticut and an M.A.T. in ceramics from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Mara was one of the founding partners of Pinch Pottery / Ferrin Gallery in Northampton, Ma. Mara lives and works in western Massachusetts with her husband, artist Roy Superior. She exhibits throughout the United States and is represented by Ferrin Gallery. Her work can be found in many public and private collections including the White House Collection of American Craft, the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC and the LA County Museum of Art. Mara has received a National Endowment for the Visual Arts Fellowship and numerous Individual Artist grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. She has traveled to Europe on many artistic pilgrimages, visiting icons of the history of Western Art.

"My passion for Art History and the History of the Decorative Arts has informed my work throughout my career. I seek to create beauty through the reinterpretation of historical inspirations synthesized with my own visual vocabulary and contemporary views. The resulting objects are rooted in the historical continuum."