Mississippi Capitol Showcases Sam Gore's Evelyn Gandy Sculpture
Internationally celebrated artist Sam Gore's latest sculpture - one of the late Lt. Gov. Evelyn Gandy- will soon have a permanent home in the Mississippi Capitol.
Supporters of "Miss Evelyn," a prominent Hattiesburg attorney and trailblazer as the state's first female lieutenant governor, will be on hand for the unveiling of the bronze statue 11 a.m. Thursday in the Old Supreme Court chambers.
Just blocks from the Capitol, Sam Gore's magnificent bronze sculptures of Jesus and Moses are on display at an exterior wall of the Mississippi School of Law on East Griffith Street. The sculptures at the MC law school have won over the hearts of visitors from as far away as Russia.
A retired Mississippi College Art Department chairman and 1951 MC alumnus from Clinton, Gore has been at work on the Gandy sculpture for four months at his home in Hinds County.
"It is my most recent project," Gore said Tuesday. "I never met her, but knew of her. I worked from photographs from a committee of five women attorneys led by (former) Supreme Court Justice Kay Cobb."
The new statue is life-sized from the waist up. The bronze sculpture weighs about 100 pounds. It was cast at the Lugar Foundry near Memphis.
The Gandy bust will be permanently housed in the Old Supreme Court chambers on the building's second floor.
The Women in the Profession Committee of The Mississippi Bar raised money and commissioned the bust by the retired MC professor. The Legislature gave it\'s OK to place the small statue in the Capitol.
A longtime lawmaker who broke new ground as the state's first female lieutenant governor in the late 1970s, Gandy died in December 2007 at the age of 87. A former state senator, Amy Tuck served a few years ago as Mississippi's second female lieutenant governor. Gandy was viewed as a role model for Tuck and many other women in Mississippi politics.
In an Associated Press story by reporter Jack Elliott, Kay Cobb said the Capitol was chosen as the place to honor Gandy because it was "where she reached the pinnacle of her career as lieutenant governor."
The Capitol is also home to portraits of Mississippi's past governors.
Gore's MC colleagues are delighted to see the Gandy statue on permanent display at the Capitol starting March 11. Gandy has many admirers all over the Magnolia State. So does Gore.
"I think it is great," said MC art department chairman Randy Miley. "This is another dimension to his work."
Miley and Gore Galleries Director Randy Jolly will be on hand for the program at the Capitol. Cobb will be among the speakers. "It is really good a Mississippi College artist was selected to do this," Miley said.
This isn't Sam Gore's first piece of work connected with Mississippi politics. Many years ago, Gore crafted a portrait of the late U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis. The Mississippi College professor flew to Washington to drop off the portrait at the Mississippi senator's office on Capitol Hill.
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