Mariko Okubo is a Kyoto-based ceramic artist recognized for her quiet and expressive figurative sculptures that give tangible form to subtle emotional and psychological states.
She began her ceramic practice in Taipei in 2011 and founded her Kyoto studio “Green Time” in 2016. Her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs across Japan, Asia, the United States, and China.
Okubo’s work draws from personal reflection while engaging with universally resonant themes such as tenderness, emotional depth, and everyday inner narratives. She has participated in international residencies including Watershed Ceramics (USA), Clayarch Gimhae Museum (Korea), and Taoxichuan Art Center (China), and has been invited to lead workshops both in Japan and abroad, expanding her cross-cultural engagement through figurative ceramics.
I work with clay to give form to things that cannot be seen—memories, emotions, and the small traces of experience that remain even without words. Clay gently holds these quiet moments and allows them to become visible.
The figures I create are not modeled after specific individuals.
They grow out of a sense that parts of myself are intertwined with the natural elements around us—the air, the wind, the movement of time—and slowly emerge into form.
Moments of kindness, a sudden sense of longing, a quiet prayer for someone I love…
These feelings often rise while I’m shaping the clay. I follow their rhythm, letting the figure develop at its own pace. Each piece becomes a small vessel connecting my inner world with the one we all share.
Showing my work in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, and the United States has taught me that emotional experience is deeply universal.
I hope my sculptures offer a moment of warmth and a quiet sense of connection for those who encounter them.