SUPERIOR NEWS
For additional articles and features, see Mara’s NEWS page on the Ferrin Contemporary website.
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Porcelain Love Letters: Mara Superior, Only One Planet Earth, 2019. High-fired English porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglazes, Cornwall Stone glaze, gold leaf, 16 x 16 x 11.5 in. Courtesy of artist and Ferrin Contemporary. John Polak Photography. The Art of Mara Superior “A...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS “English Delftware: A Collection of Blue Dash Chargers”, 2016. RE—REANIMATE, REPAIR, MEND AND MELDco-curated by Paul Scott and Andrew Basemana group show of work by contemporary ceramic artists explores the issues of conservation, restoration, over-consumption, reuse, and recyclingStephen Bowers, Bouke de Vries, Ruan Hoffmann, Noelle Horsfield,...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS “English Delftware: A Collection of Blue Dash Chargers”, 2016. The Massachusetts Cultural Council recognizes exceptional work by Massachusetts artists across a range of disciplines. These highly competitive awards provide artists crucial validation among their peers and the public. They catalyze artistic advancement and pave the way...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Mara Superior, “The Pursuit of Happiness”, 2012-2014. “Patriotic Passions” by author Suzy Slesin features Superior’s important commission, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” based on the principles of democracy for a prominent New York private collection. “Mara Superior’s pieces are vessels of memory, powerful forms filled with remembrance...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS “The Voyeur: Une Fleur Amoureaux, A Flower In Love”, 2010. The Women Ferrin Contemporary presents selected works by women artists whose primary medium is clay. On view in the gallery and online, we introduce new works by emerging and established artists along with masterworks available from...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Kangxi Period, Qing Dynasty/A Collection”, 2018. Revive, Remix, Respond: Contemporary Ceramic Artists and The Frick Pittsburgh February 17–May 27, 2018 Showcases contemporary artists who are breathing new life into the ceramic medium by reinvigorating age-old motifs, processes, and techniques. Contemporary ceramicists were invited to respond to...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Open Studios & Summer Gallery Saturday – Sunday, July 27 – 28, 2019, 10am-5pm 54 Main Street, Cummington, MA OPEN STUDIOS: Tour the studios and see recent works by current studio resident artist Lily Fein, long term resident artists Kadri Pärnamets, Sergei Isupov, and visiting...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS “Fantasia Teapot”, 2007, high-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze, faux painting, wood, brass pins, 13.5 x 8.5 x 20″ July 21, 2019 – July 19, 2020 Mara Superior’s Fantastia Teapot is on display at the Crocker Art Museum, as part of their exhibition highlighting recent acquisions of contemporary...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS “A Spring Dream (Rabbit Teapot)”, 2008, high-fired porcelain, ceramic Oxides, Underglaze, glaze, wood, gold leaf, 16 x 17 x 6″. August 17, 2019 – May 3, 2020 Mara Superior’s “A Spring Dream (Rabbit Teapot)” was recently acquired by the Fuller Craft Museum. On view now, the...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Mara Superior’s “Angelo Da Vendemmia—Castle Vase”, 2002, High-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of the Kohler Foundation, Inc.; 2019.14.2 “Art for Dartmouth: Celebrating the 250th”, August 31, 2019 – January 12, 2020. On view from August 31, 2019 –January 12,...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Mara Superior, “English Delftware: A Collection of Blue Dash Chargers”, 2016, 12.5 x 16 x 1.5″, high-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze, gold leaf. Everson Museum of Art. On View November 16, 2019 – March 22, 2020 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY ...
A LEGACY OF FIRSTS: THE EVERSON COLLECTS Object of the Week: Mara Superior, Tea Temple Teapot, 1998, high-fired English porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglazes, Cornwall Stone glaze, wood, faux marble paint, and brass pins, 18 x 23½ x 7½ inches, Everson Museum of Art; Gift of the Kohler Foundation, Inc; 2018.49.1 Courtesy...
PUBLICATIONS
MARA SUPERIOR: A RETROSPECTIVE
Published in 2006 by New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
• Forward by Douglas Hyland, Director, New Britain Museum of American Art.
• Essay by Bruce W. Pepich, Executive Director and Curator of Collection, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
32-page, full-color exhibition catalog
$15.00
413: Pioneering Western Massachussetts, Fuller Craft Museum
Click here to view online catalog from the exhibition 413: Pioneering Western Massachusetts.
The catalog was produced by the Fuller Craft Museum who hosted the show in 2016.
“Mara Superior’s pieces are vessels of memory, powerful forms filled with remembrance of things past. They are commemorative icons expressing a hieratic spiritual quality that calls for ceremonial placement in the environment. The content of the drawings is contemplative and complex, the use of words gives clues to the paradox being explored…. Superior’s work is firmly grounded in the ceramic tradition; the ancient Greeks, too, decorated their ceremonial pots with narrative drawings. The fascinating physical beauty of glazed porcelain, with its copper-red blushes and floating cobalt blues, is of central value. They could not exist with the same impact in any other material. They are about ceramic art. The quality and content of the painting conjures memories of illuminated manuscripts and small botanical studies. There is a very personal and idiosyncratic quality in Superior’s work that co-exists with great strength and dignity. A unique freshness emerges from the artist’s almost cloistered, confident, personal vision.”
— Angela Fina, American Ceramics Magazine Review, 2015
Featuring Ferrin Contemporary Artists Crystal Morey and Mara Superior
All Copy and Content Courtesy of:
La Fondation d’Enterprise Bernardaud,
Limoges, France
& Anne Richard
Founder of the art magazine
HEY! modern art & pop culture,
Author, publisher,
and exhibition curator
VIEW PDF
Released September 15, 2023
Edited by Anne Richard Bilingual (French / English)
250 pages
Shaped cover 28 x 24.5 cm
Published by HEY! PUBLISHING
“From there, [she], like many of us, sees the news, imagines the future, and find solace in the triumphant artworks of the past. She is chronicling our time, a unique and strange mix of hope in the ace of humanities greatest collective threat— ourselves.”
Mara Superior, Chronicling our Collective Hopes, essay by Lauren Levato-Coyne.
PURCHASE THE CATALOG
PUBLICATIONS
2017
- “Making Good: An Inspirational Guide to Being an Artist Craftsman”, Jacklyn Scott, Kristin Müller, Tommy Simpson, Foreword by Stuart Kestenbaum, Schiffer Publications, pg189, 2017.
- “Studio Craft as Career: A Guide to Achieving Excellence in Art-making”, Paul J. Stankard, Schiffer Publications, pg194, 2017.
2016
- “413: Pioneering Western Massachusetts”, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, 2016.
- “Patriotic Passions & Mara Superior”, Galerie Magazine, Fall Issue 2016.
2013
- “500 Teapots”, Lawton, Jim. Asheville: Lark Crafts, 2013.
2011
- “WOMENARTISTS@NEWBRITAINMUSEUM”, Buckberrough, Sherry and Noble, Nancy. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2011.
- “The Birding Life”, Laurence, Carol Sheehan and Precourt, Kathryn. New York, NY: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2011.
2010
- “The Political Imagination of Mara Superior: An Interview with the Artist”, Hubbs, Joanna. Ceramic Art & Perception Magazine, June 2010.
- “Politics and Intuition”, Buttenweiser, Sarah. Hand/Eye Magazine.com, 2010.
- “Superior Décor”, Buttonweiser, Sarah. Preview Magazine, December 2010.
2009
- “American Craft”, image of “Bushwacked”, April-May 2009.
2008
- “Wedded Bliss, the Marriage of Art and Ceremony”, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, 2008.
2006
- “Art into The Fire”, Hornblow, Deborah, Hartford, CT: Hartford Courant, 2006.
- “Mara Superior: A Retrospective”, exhibition catalogue, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, 2006.
2004
- “House and Garden”, Martin, Molly. Nantucket, The Dane Gallery, 2004.
- “500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form”, Gunter, Veronika Alice. Asheville: Lark Crafts, 2004.
2003
- “Souvenirs D’Italia”, Lauria, Jo. American Craft Magazine, August – September 2003.
- “Great Pots, Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy”, Dietz, Ulysses Grant. The Newark Museum, Guild Publishing.
- “21st Century Ceramics, United States and Canada”, Hunt, Bill. Westerville, OH: American Ceramic Society, 2003.
2002
- “Mara Superior”, Ceramics Monthly, Vol. 50 Issue 8, p14, Oct 2002.
2001
- “American Craft, Commissions”, Literati Clock, February/March 2001.
2000
- “The Craft and Art of Clay”, Peterson, Susan. Overlook press/Viking, 3rd Edition, 2000.
- “Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950 – 2000”, Lauria, Jo. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 2000.
- “Teapots Transformed: Exploration of an Object”, Ferrin, Leslie.; Madison, WI: GUILD Publishing,
2000
- “Telling Stories in Porcelain”, Whitcomb, Claire. Victoria Magazine, vol. 14 # 4, April 2000.
1995
- “The Clinton Collection”, Berry, Heidi. Washington Home, April 27, 1995.
- “Contemporary Crafts Find a Home in the White House”, Patton, Phil, p. 52. Smithsonian, June 1995.
- “The White House Collection of American Crafts”, Monroe, Michael. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995.
1994
- “Hand and Home, The Homes of American Craftsmen”, Simpson, Tommy. Boston, MA: Bulfinch Press/Little Brown & Co., 1994.
- “Porcelain with a Past,” Bostonia, Spring, p.85, 1994.
- “Crafts at the White House,” American Craft, June/July 1994.