Roy Superior

WILLIAMSBURG - Roy Superior, 78, of Williamsburg, died peacefully after a brief illness Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013.

A true Renaissance man, Roy was not only a highly original and brilliantly talented visual artist but also a traditional jazz clarinet player, writer, a lifelong fly fisherman and a hedonist, whose love of life, and food, made him feel most at home in Italy, where he spent long periods of time.

Roy was a professor of art, having earned degrees in fine arts from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., and a master's of fine art from Yale University, New Haven, Conn. He studied in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.

He taught wood sculpture and furniture design at the University of the Arts of the Philadelphia College of Art and Design, where he served as chairman of the crafts department and was head of the wood program for 16 years. He taught printmaking, drawing and painting at the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford and at Hampshire College.

He retired in 2006 and continued producing art work. In 2012 he taught drawing and watercolor at the Academy at Charlemont.

His art work is in many public and private collections including the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Conn., and Agnes Gund, a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally.

Roy received numerous awards and grants. In 2012 he won a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Roy's work has been featured in many periodicals and books as well as reviews in newspapers such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe. He was honored to be included in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, where his sketchbooks and papers will be archived.

Born in New York, N.Y., he grew up in Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y.

He leaves behind his beloved wife the visual artist, Mara Superior; daughters Lynne Superior Ruscigno and Suzanne Eve Ferrigno; two granddaughters, Rachael and Jessica Ferrigno; and his dear cousin, the print maker, Helen Yaker of Lexington.

He will be remembered as a mentor by scores of students for his words of support, inspiration, wisdom and his joyful humor and laughter.

If friends desire, a gift certificate at Hadley Garden Center will help plant a garden for Roy next spring, or contributions in his name can be made to the Craft Emergency Relief Fund.

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