Tampa woman plays in the mud to make beautiful pottery art

Kimberli Cummings pottery art

Artist Kimberli Cummings has been molding mud into works of art for 30 years. In her Tampa studio, she creates one-of-a-kind pieces to please every imagination.

TAMPA, Fla. - Inside Kimberli Cummings’ pottery studio in Tampa, there’s clay everywhere you look.

She’s been molding mud for almost three decades and has created thousands of pieces. Each one tells a story, but it starts with a cylinder.

Cumming’s showed FOX 13 how she transforms a squishy, brown wedge into a work of art.

"So I wedged this piece of clay. It's 4.5 pounds, and I'm going to slam it as much in the center as I possibly can," she said, hitting the block into the center of a round surface. "Knowing that at any minute I'm going to be able to open this up and it's going to be centered, I never lose that excitement."

As the circular base spins, she slowly pulls the clay out and upward.

"So I'm pushing towards you with my inside hand so that I can start widening the cylinder with the thought the whole time is 'What is this going to be? It's going to be a bowl,'" she explained. "There's so much joy in making for me."

Her pieces range from items you might think of as typical pottery: mugs, bowls, and pitchers. But she loves making someone else’s vision come to life.

“I love going, ‘Oh my God, this person is going to give something, that I got to be a part of, to someone they love. I mean, that's why I keep walking into this room going, ‘I get to do that again!’” she said.

Cummings has three shows coming up: