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Moses Sculpture Makes Its Way to Mississippi


Mississippi College's bronze sculpture "Moses and the Law" this week completed its four-hour journey from Memphis to Clinton. There's just a few more miles to go to its final stop: the MC School of Law.

Internationally celebrated MC art professor Samuel Gore created the 12-foot-tall by eight-foot wide masterpiece that will be unveiled at the School of Law in downtown Jackson this fall.

Workers with Mid State Construction in Jackson say they'll need three to four weeks to prepare the site on the Jackson campus to permanently house his 2700-pound art treasure. It will be easily visible to visitors walking by the 538-student law school on Griffith Street.

Gore first sketched designs for the sculpture more than a year ago as a passenger aboard an airplane trip from South Carolina. The 80-year-old professor now has the sculpture secured in a large shop at his Clinton home until its delivery to the law school. He's anxious to see his creation finish its journey to Mississippi's capital city.

"It is something of a healing project," said Larry Lugar, owner of the Lugar Foundry in Memphis where it's been stored after Gore began working on it months ago. "Obviously, it is appropriate for the law school," with the sculpture displaying the tablets of the Ten Commandment in Hebrew.

Lugar carefully drove the gigantic art work on a flatbed truck from his Memphis foundry. He's come to admire Gore and his labor of love. "Dr. Gore is an inspiration. He's one of my heroes."

The MC School of Law commissioned Gore to do the work that is the largest of his career that spans more than a half-century. A Texas native and 1951 MC graduate, Gore is the son of a preacher. His first work of art was a clay sculpture when he was a second-grader in Bruce, Miss.

One of his many fans today is Dan Gore of Clinton, a retired hospital administrator and pharmacist, who was a first grader when his older brother Sam finished high school. He continues to be amazed by his life and accomplishments. "He is a total Christian," Dan Gore said. "I never heard a foul word from him."

Gore's son, Paul Gore, who owns a sign business in Clinton, said he's anxious to see the sculpture on display at the School of Law. His father, he said, "has been at it so steadfastly."

"Moses and the Law" will have an addition at a later date on the law school campus. Gore is also crafting a sculpture to be titled "Jesus, the Fulfillment of the Law."

Photo (left-right): Larry Lugar, owner of Lugar Foundry in Memphis, gets help from Corey Edwards of Pelahatchie, worker with Mid State Construction, and Paul Gore, son of the artist and owner of A to B Signs in Clinton.