Author Barbara Gauntt and Artist Sam Gore Celebrated at Mississippi College
Admirers of author Barbara Gauntt and artist Sam Gore turned out in big numbers Sunday afternoon.
They visited Mississippi College’s Gore Galleries to celebrate the publication of Gauntt’s book “Samuel M. Gore: Blessed With Tired Hands.”
“I’m just getting warmed up,” Dr. Gore said as he joined Gauntt to sign one book after another.
Award-winning artists like Wyatt Waters and Kenneth Quinn, two of Gore’s former MC students, attended the reception to honor the talented Mississippians.
“Dr. Gore helped me with my career – he’s been like family,” says Quinn, a retired Mississippi College art professor and painter from Jackson. “He encouraged me year after year.”
In the 1950s, Quinn was a student when the MC Art Department was birthed in the basement of Ratliff Hall. A one-man Art Department in the dorm at the Baptist college, Gore hired Quinn to be his first student worker. They’ve stayed close friends and art colleagues for more than six decades.
Published by University Press of Mississippi, Gauntt’s 112-page book is filled with her wonderful photographs capturing the essence of Gore’s work as a painter and sculptor.
His extraordinary career as a Christian artist continues to be trumpeted across the USA and around the globe.
Mississippi College art students like Tarrah Foreman of Clinton expressed her thanks for inspiring them, and gave him a hug.
“It’s a complete honor – I couldn’t be more blessed to work with him,” said Foreman, a 25-year-old MFA student at Mississippi College. The Clinton resident and 2012 MC graduate seeks to become a sculptor, just like her gifted mentor.
Others embracing the 87-year-old Clinton artist included painter Susan Russell of Madison. Her parents were Gore’s former art students, and so was her sister, Becky.
Russell fondly recalled her trip with Gore, other professors and students to Costa Rica a few years ago. The Mississippians crafted beautiful paintings, feasted on coconuts and spotted wild monkeys as they honed their craft near the beach.
Gauntt’s stunning photos of Gore’s paintings of Costa Rican scenes, and MC’s Provine Chapel are featured in her book. So are her pictures of his massive bronze sculptures like Moses & the Ten Commandments at the MC School of Law in Jackson.
In “Blessed With Tired Hands,” Gauntt also interviewed the 1952 Mississippi College graduate, a man of deep faith. The native Texan is the son of a Baptist preacher. His late wife, Margie, the love of Sam’s life, was a huge source of inspiration. Gauntt first discovered Gore’s artistic treasures while doing a photo assignment for “The Clarion-Ledger.”
Wyatt Waters penned the book’s forward.
“He has real compassion,” Waters wrote. “He loved me enough to help me believe in myself and then pointed me to a bigger belief. If anyone exemplifies the best of MC, it is Dr. Gore.”
Dr. Gore and Gauntt, an MC art instructor, will return for a second book signing during the Christian university’s 2015 Homecoming on October 24.
For more information go to mc.edu/gorebook
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