Noboru Kubo was a Japanese-born and educated fourth generation master potter. In Japan he studied his craft alongside his father, and at the Kyoto Industrial Arts School, where he received a degree in 1964. He first came to North America in 1969, and exhibited in multiple solo, group, invitational, and juried shows in Canada and the United States. Upon taking up residence in Edmonton, Alberta in the early seventies Kubo taught ceramics primarily at the University of Alberta through the faculty of extension, and expanded his teaching to workshops in Lethbridge and Red Deer where he could enjoy the natural beauty of prairie summers.
A gifted and admired instructor, Kubo’s patience and talent inspired generations of devoted students. Upon retiring from the University of Alberta in 1999, Kubo worked and showed independently, and his distinctive pieces continued to be acquired and admired in Edmonton and beyond. Highlights of his practice include artist’s residencies at Alfred University in New York, and in Vallauris, France in 2007, and 2008. In addition, he is among a very select group of potters permitted to fire pieces in the kiln of Kawai Kanjiro in Kyoto Japan, one of the nation’s most revered ceramicists, and a pioneering figure in the studio pottery and Mingei craft movements. Kubo influenced generations of potters in Alberta, and his work can be found in private, corporate and government collections around the world.
