Mara and Roy Superior exemplified the ideal of a life shared between art lovers. When asked about the collaborations between husband and wife, Mara reflected that it is an exciting thing for a few artists to expand their repertoire by having a partner, friend, or relative who is an expert in another material. As artists consider their material’s limitations, the possibilities immediately start to expand when incorporating another artist’s materials and mastery, and the marrying of two minds enhances the whole creative process.
“I was very, very blessed and fortunate, and I would grab him whenever I could—though he was pretty slippery—I’d catch him once in a while. I was usually corralling him into these ideas.” Their ideas culminated in “Aqua Vitae,” “Sea of Plenty,” “Aqua Marina,” “Pearls Collaborative Cabinet”, and other works, each of which consist of a custom cabinet, decorative elements, and egg tempera painting made by Roy and a porcelain centerpiece made by Mara. The cabinets are now in the collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Peabody Essex Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and the Racine Art Museum, respectively.
In addition to these showcases of Roy’s mastery over wood and painting and Mara’s mastery over porcelain and design, Roy made all kinds of tools for Mara. “I was so blessed and spoiled…he would surprise me, or I’d ask him for a specific tool. I would bring home a little drawing of something that I needed, like a stamp that I wanted to press into clay for a window, and he would make it. He helped me with all kinds of templates, and drape molds, and so many special, wooden tools in so many categories, all customized.”
– Mara Superior, 2019
Roy & Mara Superior, “Pearls Collaborative Cabinet”, 2008, 84 x 33 x 16″, high-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze, wood, gold leaf, bone, ink, egg tempera, brass pins, mother of pearl, shells. Racine Art Museum.
Roy & Mara Superior, “Sea of Plenty”, 2008, 84 x 33 x 16″, high-fired porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglaze, glaze, wood, gold leaf, bone, ink, egg tempera, brass pins, mother of pearl, shells. Peabody Essex Museum.
Roy & Mara Superior, “Aqua Vitae”, 1995, 84 x 33 x 16″, wood, paint, porcelain,gold leaf, bone, ink, egg tempera painting. Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum (1996.39A-C).
