Kira Cummings
Kira Cummings is a multi-medium artist adept in an array of disciplines; painting, pyrography, photography, videography, graphic design, and animation. A Fine Art graduate of Jackson State University with a Minor in Graphic Design, Cummings holds a membership in the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi for pyrography and the Louisiana Crafts Guild . Cummings is the Creative Director for The Works where she creates video and animation for musicians, interview programs, and corporate promotions as well as producing live events. Cummings is also an affiliate for Walnut Hollow.
https://www.walnuthollow.com/?sca_ref=7347958.MEhryXWaJa
Artist Statement: Pyrography
My work explores the intersection of history, fame, and craftsmanship through the medium of woodburning. By creating portraits of famous individuals, I aim to capture not only their likeness but also the deeper essence of their public personas—immortalizing their impact in a way that is both tactile and timeless.
Woodburning, or pyrography, allows me to engage with the subject in a deliberate and thoughtful process. The slow, methodical application of heat to wood contrasts with the often fleeting nature of celebrity, grounding these figures in a raw, organic material that evokes permanence. The grain of the wood interacts with each stroke of heat, adding a unique texture that mirrors the complexity of the human experience, suggesting that behind the polished images of fame are nuanced, multifaceted lives.
By rendering these figures in wood, I invite the viewer to reflect on the enduring influence of cultural icons, while also questioning the nature of fame itself. What do we preserve? What is lost? Through these portraits, I aim to offer a moment of stillness, where the viewer can engage not just with the surface of celebrity, but with the lasting impact of those who shape our collective imagination.
Artist Statement: Black Series
Kira Cummings is a Southern Black woman challenging viewers to contemplate the opaque turbulence she must navigate each day. As a Black artist, Cummings has spent her career making a way in an art world dominated by the centering of whiteness. Realizing the daily micro-aggressions and racism experienced even in friendly spaces were being internalized in order to cope, Cummings created a body of work which would itself be a healing practice illuminating the vulnerability she feels operating as a human being at the intersection of Blackness, femininity, and entrepreneurial creative practice.
The Black series draws viewers close. Thick, sculpted masses of Lamp Black – a pure carbon pigment formulated from the residual soot of burning oil – ebbs and flows across the canvas in tempestuous wave forms reaching out to the viewer in high relief. The 12-panel polyptych work All looms across the wall, visible from across a gallery space yet its detail and form obscured by the deep black surface. As the viewer leans in close, the textures of these fragments of rough water are discerned and yet the raw surface remains impenetrable; the viewer cannot know what lies beneath causing the conflicting churn.
The work is an expansive display of vulnerability which in its process and exhibition brings Cummings a reprieve. The work begins quickly but soon slows to a crawl, the oil paints taking progressively longer to dry as layers are built; their sculpted forms requiring patience and steadiness. The contemplative work becomes a catharsis, the emphasis placed on the artists’ presence – where she has chosen to take up space and shape it. The societal expectations of the “strong Black woman” fall away, allowing Kira to be direct; liberated to share the emotions stirred by daily oppressions gnawing away at her humanity.
CV
EDUCATION
Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
B.A. Fine Arts. Minor in Graphic Design
EXHIBITIONS
“3rd Annual Black Art Exhibition” The Arts, Hancock County. Bay St. Louis, MS. February 2025
“ 8x8 Art Exhibit and Sale” MS Latinx Art Association. Hattiesburg, MS. November 2024
“Mr. Wolf's BIG ASS ART SALE!” Mr. Wolf Espresso and Books New Orleans, LA. October 2024
“Majorly Millsaps Art Show” Millsap College Jackson, MS. October 2024
“Plein Air Invitational” Greenfield Farm. Oxford, MS. September 2024
"Art of Self Discovery" Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. September 2024
“6x6 Art Show | Canvas for a Cause” Urban Art Memphis. Memphis, TN September 2024
“Sanctuary Arts Festival: MS Artist Pop Up & Storytelling” Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Oxford, MS. August 2024
“The South Got Somethin’ To Say” Arts Center of MS, Jackson, MS. August 2024
“Museum After Hours 60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer,” MS Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. July 2024
“Black Art Now” Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. February 2024
“Gifts of Love” Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Oxford, MS. January 2024
“Winter Showcase” Starkville Area Arts Council, Starkville, MS. November 2023
“Inner Thoughts” Millsaps College, Jackson, MS. October 2023
“Rap Snacks” Offbeat, Jackson, MS. February 2023
“Mississippi Invitational,” Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. August 2021
“An Invitation” Millsaps College, Jackson, MS. August 2019
“A Woman's Worth” Studio 2500. Birmingham, AL. March 2019
“A Body, An Archive” AND Gallery, Jackson, MS. June 2018
“Collective Nonconformity” MS Arts Center, Jackson, MS. June 2018
“Diane Williams & Kira Cummings,” Gore Gallery at Mississippi College, Clinton, MS. January 2018
“Introspection” Kira Cummings, Lesley F. Collins, Ariss King, Sanna Gallery, Jackson MS. September 2017
“Pancakes & Booze” Houston, TX. June 2017
“Nasty Women Exhibition,” BottleTree Studios. Jackson, MS. March 2017
“5th Annual The Cedars Juried Show,” The Cedars, Jackson, MS. September 2016
“Mark Making” Gallery 1, Jackson, MS. May 2016
“Selections from the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi,” Lucile Parker Gallery at William Carey University, Hattiesburg, MS. October 2015
“2nd Annual The Cedars Juried Show,” The Cedars, Jackson, MS. September 2013
SHOWCASES: The Works
“One Mic 4” 420 Medical Clinic. Jackson, MS. July 2024
“One Mic 3” Pop Shop Records. Baton Rouge, LA. October 2023
“Vibe Sessions 3” Blue Moon Saloon. Lafayette, LA. October 2023
“Vibe Sessions 2” MikeTown Comedy Club. Jackson, MS. June 2023
“One Mic 2” Urban Foxes. Jackson, MS. May 2023
“One Mic” Hal & Mal’s. Jackson, MS. February 2023
“Vibe Sessions” Conkrete. Jackson, MS. November 2022
“Roc Da Mic” Southside Art Center. Baton Rouge, LA. September 2019
“Neak” Conkrete. Jackson, MS. September 2019
“Makeup of Mascot Record Release Party” Offbeat. Jackson, MS. August 2019
“Makeup of Mascot Record Release Party” PopShop Records. Baton Rouge, LA. August 2019
“Ruff, Rugged, & Raw” The Murals. Jackson, MS. June 2019
“A Hop Hop Show” Conkrete. Jackson, MS. March 2019
“One Mic: Five Emcees” Offbeat. Jackson, MS. September 2018
“WC INC Album Release Party” The Flamingo. Jackson, MS. May 2018
“Woooooo Issa Hip Hop Show” Offbeat. Jackson, MS. January 2018
“Rhythm & Rhymes” Center Stage of MS. Jackson, MS. September 2017
“Art & Music II” Offbeat. Jackson, MS. March 2017
“Punchlines & Brushstrokes” CS’s Restaurant. Jackson, MS. November 2016
“Art & Music” Soul Wired Cafe. Jackson, MS. March 2016
AWARDS/HONORS
2025 Louisiana Crafts Guild: Pyrography
2025 Community Supported Artists Program. Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Oxford, MS
2025 Oxford Film Festival Honorable Mention: Daniel Coleman: Talkin’ bout Jesus
2024 MS Arts Commission Mini Grant
2024 Third Place. Majorly Millsaps. Millsaps College. Jackson, MS
2024 ‘Best of Show’ Canvas for a Cause. Urban Arts Commission. Memphis, TN.
2024 Oxford Film Festival (Best Music Video): Ray Kincaid: Black Boy Cry
2024 Arts for Everybody School Residency. Utica Elementary Middle School. Utica, MS
2023 MS Arts Commission Mini Grant
2023 Hope Rising Grant. Center for Social Entrepreneurship
2023 Oxford Film Festival (Best Music Video): Ray Kincaid: Scatterbrain
2022 Higher Purpose Learning Business Growth Grant 2022
2022 New York Film Awards (Best Music Video): PureBlack X ‘Mississippi Love’
2022 LAFA Semi-Finalists: PureBlack X ‘Mississippi Love’
2022 LAFA Honorable Mention (Animation): Mr. Fluid ‘Last Night’
2021 MS Arts Commission Mini Grant
2021 JXN Film Festival (Best Music Video): Mr. Fluid ‘Last Night’
2021 Featured Artist in MS Invitational
2017 “Rising Artist” Portico Magazine
2016 Mississippi Craftsmen's Guild: Pyrography
2015 Mississippi Craftsmen's Guild: Wire Sculpture
2012 First Place Cartoon, Mississippi Press Association
2011 Second Place Cartoon, Mississippi Press Association
2010 First Place Best Cartoon, Mississippi Press Association
2010 Second Place Best Cartoon, Mississippi Press Association
2010 Third Place Best Cartoon, Black College Communication Association
2010 Merit Award, Jackson State University Annual Student Juried Art Show
2009 Art Scholarship, Jackson State University Department
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Photoshop. Adobe After Effects. Adobe Premier, Adobe Lightroom,
Photographer, Videographer.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Member, Louisiana Craft Guild (2025- present) Wood - Pyrography
Member, Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi (2016 – present) Wood - Pyrography
FEATURES
“Crafty View,” MS Craftsmen's Center Podcast, March 2021.
“Jackson Rising Artist,” Portico Magazine, September 2017
“Person of the Day: Kira Cummings,” Jackson Free Press, April 26, 2017.
“Midtown showcase coincides with small business Saturday,” WLBT Channel 3, November 30, 2013.
WORKSHOPS
“Digital Media Essentials” Briarwood Arts Center Feb 2024
“3-Day Art + Science Filmmaker Mini Camp” (Slingshot Challenge) Briarwood Arts Center Jan 2024
“Woodburning Workshop” Briarwood Arts Center Feb 2023
“Visiting Artist Series,” Mississippi Children’s Museum, March 2021
PAST PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Artist Auction Featured Work, 2nd Annual Fondren Ornament Auction, The Cedars, Jackson, MS. November 2017