Randy Jolly Named Director of MC Gore Galleries
A Vicksburg resident, Jolly joined MC on June 1 after 27 years teaching art in Vicksburg-Warren County public schools. Until recently, he served as head of the fine arts department at Warren Central High where he taught ceramics and photography.
A native of Philadelphia, Jolly is a 1973 graduate of Pearl High School. He's an alumnus of Hinds Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree. He received a master's degree in education at MC in 1982.
Jolly hopes to make the Gore Galleries more visible to the public in metro Jackson and around the Magnolia State. Students with Clinton and Warren County schools and leaders with the Clinton Chamber of Commerce recently stopped by to see the MC art collection. He wants to expand the list of visitors in the upcoming academic year beginning in August.
"I want to make the connection to area high schools so we are used as a resource," Jolly said. The Gore Galleries is one of Clinton's jewels, he said. "It can be a PR tool for the whole community."
The MC gallery is named for internationally recognized artist Dr. Samuel Marshall Gore, an MC graduate who began teaching career at the Baptist-affiliated college in Clinton in 1951. The gallery houses a number of Gore's art creations as well as the work of such outstanding Mississippi artists as Wyatt Waters, Kenneth Quinn and Marie Hull. Quinn is a longtime MC art professor. The facility contains the art work of such internationally known artists as Salvador Dali.
When he's not promoting the MC gallery, Jolly stays busy in his hometown, Mississippi's historic Port City. He's helped with galleries in Vicksburg over the years. His wife, Sara Rebecca, is a librarian at the Vicksburg campus of Hinds Community College. They have two daughters, Sara, a fourth-grade teacher in Austin, Texas and Leigh, a culinary arts student at Hinds Community College.
The Gore Galleries is hosting a reception June 19 welcoming Jolly as the new director. MC Art Department Chairman Randy Miley and others in the MC community will on hand. The event from 6-8 p.m. is open to the public. For the past year or so, Miley and other staffers at MC helped fill in to promote the Gore Galleries on Monroe Street.
The hours for the galleries: 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday during the summer. It is open from 9 a.m. until noon on Fridays. For more information, call 601-925-3231.
PHOTO: Randy Jolly pictured with his wife, Sara Rebecca
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