Highlighting Mara Superior’s formative years, the Artist Archives consists of the artist’s earliest pieces, spanning the late 1970s to the 1990s. The enthusiasm and excitement that Superior had in the beginning of her career is reflected in these pieces, which embody her process of falling in love with reduced porcelain and the history of ceramics.
The Continuum represents Superior’s commemoration of her excitement for ceramic history: “I was so excited to be on this path; I used the word ‘continuum’, as I felt that I was part of this long history from 480 AD in China, to Meissen, to Me.” Superior’s first series is self-referential – Ceramics about Ceramics – and the artist’s self-described “off-the-charts enthusiasm” for the material.
In “Keramos”, one of the artist’s earliest, serious artworks; Superior connects her work to the Grecian urn and the Greek name for ceramics. On the piece are little samples of the various Greek forms: the amphora, the Krater, and various other vessel forms. “Meissen and Me” is another piece which ties Superior’s work to art historical precedents and displays the artist’s technical evolution as she addressed shapes and construction along with conceptual considerations. At first, Superior started with two-sided pieces, then came up with boxy shapes so she could control the curve and form of the piece with exactness. Moving in tandem with her ideas, the artist’s slab forms provided the canvas upon which Superior’s artistic visions could merge ceramics with the artist’s painting background.
