Where It All Began
The Mississippi College Department of Art was born in the basement of Ratliff Hall in the 1950s by Sam Gore. Constructed in 1913, Ratliff Hall was primarily a dorm with inadequate space and lighting for art courses. While serving as the first headquarters for art classes, Ratliff wouldn’t be the permanent home of a growing Art Department.
Sam Gore had big dreams for a new Art Department; he began crafting a concept for a Fine Arts Building in the early 1950s. Gore’s design eventually led to the new Aven Fine Arts Building on the corner of Jefferson and College Streets.
Shortly after construction of the Aven Fine Arts Building and the Leland Speed Library began, construction ceased due to fund shortages. The two buildings were not completed until 1959.
Today, the four-story Aven Hall remains home to part of the Department. The classrooms and computer labs house the Graphic Design Program, Photography studios, Darkroom, and the Interior Design Program.
The Art Department has continued to grow and was blessed with a new facility, moving into the new Gore Arts Complex in the Fall of 2022. Department offices and thirteen renovated classrooms house the Studio Art and Art Education programs on the East Campus in the former Clinton Junior High.
When MC first purchased the property from the Clinton Public School District, Sam Gore saw the potential for using the building for Art. He immediately started drawing up floor plans of possible ways to use the space. He prayed over the building and laid his hands on it, asking God to make it available to the Art Department. At the time, the funds were unavailable for renovation, so MC used the space as storage for the campus. When Dr. Blake Thompson first came to MC as the President of the University, Dr. Sam Gore met with him to discuss using that space for Art. Within two years, plans were underway to renovate the space. The space was named after the founder of our department and his tireless effort to improve the department and its facilities, which spanned seventy years.
