Best Local Artist: Neely Tomkins

When it comes to the arts, Neely Tompkins is Yuma's favorite.

Tompkins, a longtime Yuma potter won in the 2010 round of voting in the Best Local Artist category of Yuma's Best, the Yuma Sun's annual poll of reader preferences.

“I'm very flattered. I mean, it's quite an honor,” said Tomkins, who previously won the Best Local Artist honor in 2004.

Tomkins and her husband, George, have been making and selling their work for almost 40 years, Tomkins said.

The Tomkins have lived in Yuma since 1972 and opened up Tomkins Pottery, 78 W. 2nd St., as their own outsource for pottery.

“We wanted people to know that the pottery didn't come off the back of a truck,” Tomkins said.

Tomkins said as an artist, she feels ceramics gives an artist the opportunity to figure out the route that they enjoy.

She said the most unusual thing about what she does is simply that she is a full time artist.

“It's a lifestyle, it's not a career. It's 24 hours a day,” Tomkins said.

The Tomkins' pottery can be seen on their website, www.tomkinspottery.com.