Virtual exhibition tour with RAM Executive Director and Curator of Collections Bruce W. Pepich and RAM Curator of Exhibitions Lena Vigna
Video produced by Matt Binetti, Reservoir Video Co.
Collection Focus: Mara Superior
August 18, 2021 – January 15, 2022
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.
Comprised entirely of work from RAM’s collection that span over three decades, this exhibition showcases several of the artist’s core interests. They emphasize 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 she addresses in her work, they are foundational ones and provide a layered and nuanced accounting of the artist’s approach to working with porcelain. Engaging scenes play out across a range of objects, including platters, teapots, vessels, and a collaborative piece with the artist’s late husband, sculptor and furniture maker, Roy Superior.
Significantly, this exhibition debuts 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. In doing so, this gift establishes several milestones for Superior at RAM—making her an archive artist as well as the most collected female ceramic artist and the second most collected ceramic artist regardless of gender.
More About the Exhibition
Exhibition Study Guide, available to purchase in the RAM Museum Store or view online via Issue
A Conversation with Mara Superior and Bruce W. Pepich, Unabridged (PDF)
Further information about the artist:
Oral History Interview with Mara Superior—Archives of American Art
Artist Spotlight from a 2018 Exhibition at The Frick Pittsburg
Collection Focus: Mara Superior
August 18, 2021 – January 15, 2022
Virtual exhibition tour with RAM Executive Director and Curator of Collections Bruce W. Pepich and RAM Curator of Exhibitions Lena Vigna
Video produced by Matt Binetti, Reservoir Video Co.
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.
Comprised entirely of work from RAM’s collection that span over three decades, this exhibition showcases several of the artist’s core interests. They emphasize 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 she addresses in her work, they are foundational ones and provide a layered and nuanced accounting of the artist’s approach to working with porcelain. Engaging scenes play out across a range of objects, including platters, teapots, vessels, and a collaborative piece with the artist’s late husband, sculptor and furniture maker, Roy Superior.
Significantly, this exhibition debuts 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. In doing so, this gift establishes several milestones for Superior at RAM—making her an archive artist as well as the most collected female ceramic artist and the second most collected ceramic artist regardless of gender.
More About the Exhibition
Exhibition Study Guide, available to purchase in the RAM Museum Store or view online via Issue
A Conversation with Mara Superior and Bruce W. Pepich, Unabridged (PDF)
Further information about the artist:
Oral History Interview with Mara Superior—Archives of American Art
Artist Spotlight from a 2018 Exhibition at The Frick Pittsburg
Gallery of Work
Exhibitions at RAM are made possible by:
Platinum Sponsors
The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd
David Charak
Judith and David Flegel Fund
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ron and Judith Isaacs
Nicholas and Nancy Kurten
Windgate Foundation
Diamond Sponsors
City of Racine’s Grow Racine Grant
Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation
Ruffo Family Foundation
Ruth Arts Foundation
Gold Sponsors
Anonymous
Tom and Irene Creecy
Richard and Patricia Ehlert
Herzfeld Foundation
Reliance Controls
Ruth Foundation for the Arts
Trio Foundation of St. Louis
W.T. Walker Group, Inc.
Wisconsin Arts Board
Silver Sponsors
Anonymous
Art Bridges
Baird
A.C. Buhler Family
Lucy G. Feller
Ben and Dawn Flegel
Jim Harris
Sharon and Tom Harty
Lise Iwon
J. Jeffers & Co.
Johnson Financial Group
Dorothy MacVicar
Jan Serr and John Shannon
Bronze Sponsors
Ellen and Joseph Albrecht
Andis Foundation
Susan Boland
Virginia Buhler
Butcher & Barrel/Amos Los Tacos
Educators Credit Union
Express Employment Professionals
Tony and Andrea Hauser
Bill and Debbie Keland
Susan Manalli
Jean and Alex Mandli, Jr.
The Prairie School
Cathy Stanghellin
Georgiana Treivush
Twin Disc, Inc.
