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personalities: dr. kim sessums

SSTORY BY KIM WINDMILLERPHOTOS AND ART COURTESY J. KIM SESSUMS

TThe birth of a child and thecreation of art may seem to beunrelated events, yet they sharean amazing connection in thatboth are capable of evokingemotions from deep within thehuman spirit.

Passion and enthusiasm,combined with an unyieldingdetermination, have allowedDr. J. Kim Sessums, ofBrookhaven, to witness and

participate in such movingoccasions on almost a dailybasis for more than 20 years.

While most of his days andnights are devoted to his familyand working diligently as anobstetrician/gynecologist,Sessums still finds time toexpress himself artisticallythrough writing, drawing,painting, and sculpting.

“I had to figure a way to

work in my art in my life andmy schedule,” he said. “It helpsto keep me grounded.”

Some of the well-knownpieces that have kept him“grounded” include bronzeportrait busts of severalAmerican icons, includingEudora Welty, Andrew Wyethand Billy Graham.

In order to incorporate hislove for art in his daily duties,

j . kim sessumsa study of character & style

“Frying Chicken”Print (pencil)

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he created a mobile studio that allows him to work when awindow of time opens up, even if it’s only for 15 minutes.

Sometimes Sessums finds time to sketch or write downan idea while waiting on a patient to deliver at the hospitalor if a patient cancels an appointment at the office(Brookhaven OB-GYN Associates).

Laughing, he admits there’s probably even somesketches on patient charts because he had to jot down anidea as it came to him.

“I guess I’m a bit compulsive. When I get something onmy mind, I’m gonna find a way to work it into my sched-ule,” he said.

The remarkable drive Sessums possesses can be tracedback to his childhood in a rural area near Forrest,Mississippi.

By the age of six, he had survived the separate deaths ofhis parents, losing his father in a car accident, and losinghis mother to cancer. Sessums and his brother Kevin, whowas eight at the time, and their sister Karole, who was onlyfour, continued their childhood with their grandparents,Malcolm and Joyce Britt.

Looking back, Sessums realizes the task of taking on 3small children was certainly a great sacrifice, but one thathis grandparents embraced whole-heartedly.

“My grandfather and grandmother were a great influ-ence on me from the standpoint that they lived for others,”he said. “They denied themselves and their desires, inorder to meet the needs of others.”

His grandparents always encouraged Sessums and hissiblings to express themselves. The children did so byusing their vivid imaginations in everything they did, firstin their play, and later in various artistic ways.

His brother is now a journalist, living in New York, andworking on his second book. His sister is an art dealer,who recently organized the exhibition “Backyards andBeyond,” a tribute to Mississippi Gulf Coast residents sur-viving after Hurricane Katrina.

Sessums believes one of the greatest contributions to hiscreativity arose from “overcoming boredom and loneliness

Clockwise from Top Left “Good News,” Portrait of Billy Graham, bronze“Mugwump,” Civil War, bronze“Vicksburg Campaign (Final Design),” Civil War, bronze“The Road Less Traveled,” Andrew Wyeth, bronze

Left Photo“Nettie May,” Print (pencil)

Bottom Photo“Metal Fan Rocker,” Print (pencil)

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in a small town.” It led him tothe “unexpected joy of studyingthe character and form of thosearound him.”

Whether black, white, old oryoung people, their everynuance was committed to hismemory and later recorded inwritten journals. Eventually,those childhood memories andemotions became pieces of visu-al art.

His works include everythingfrom a 1977 sketch of his AuntGladys and a 1979 sketch of hisgrandfather sitting on his car-port, to a monumental sculptur-al tribute in the VicksburgNational Military Park forAfrican descendants who par-ticipated in the VicksburgCampaign. It is the only figura-tive monument to honor theColored Troops in any CivilWar park in America.

Many of Sessums’ works por-tray African-American life inthe South, something that hasalways intrigued him since hewas able to observe it firsthandas a child on his uncle’s cottonfarm.

“There’s something about thecharacter and the steadfastnessof the farmhands,” he said,adding that it made him have atrue appreciation for the bless-ings in his life.

Not only was he moved byhis constant artistic observa-tions, but he was also botheredby them because it showed himthe reality that “life just isn’teasy.”

Sessums said famous or not,his subjects “all strike emotion-

al chords” that are firstexplored in his ongoing journal,in which he records histhoughts and delves furtherinto each work to “discover adeeper connection” to his ownlife. Thus begins his creativeprocess.

As the artist himself hasnoted, “All good art shouldmove us to a place deeper thanthe surface of our own exis-tence, revealing the humanexperience and prompting us todiscover how deep our ownemotions go.”

Sessums realized years agothat he no longer needed tosearch for his artistic style.After a lifetime spent exploringhis creative instincts, it hadfound him.

Following high school, hiscreative instincts first led himto Mississippi State University’sarchitect program, whichhelped him learn more aboutdepth of field, but he didn’t feellike he was meant to be anarchitect.

He switched colleges andattended Belhaven, where heplayed basketball and changedhis major to biology. Duringthat time, he got a job workingat a hospital and realized howmuch he enjoyed interactingwith the patients. Sessums felt“moved” and thus he started onthe path toward a career inmedicine.

He also discovered the loveof his life, Kristy, whom he’sbeen married to for 30 years.“She is what helps me get up inthe morning and keep going,”

said Sessums.They have four children:

Jake, 25; Joey, 24; Stewart; 21;and Price, 19.

After graduating from med-ical school, Sessums trained 2years in New Orleans and 2years in Jackson. By 1988, heand long-time friend Dr. SteveMills were looking for a placeto set up their practice in afriendly small town.

As fate would have it, manyof the community leaders inBrookhaven were looking toexpand the medical facilities inthe area, which were extremelylimited at the time.

“We looked at Brookhavenand we felt it fit, even thoughthere was a lot of work to bedone,” remembered Sessums.

Now the clinic has grown toinclude 4 doctors who havedelivered almost 10,000 babies.Sessums is grateful for the suc-cess of the clinic, and how itssuccess allows him to keep hishobby alive.

“I’m fortunate enough that Ican provide for my family andstill have my art, but not feelpressure to sell things,” heremarked.

In 1996, Sessums had thehonor of creating a bronze por-trait bust of the renownedpainter Andrew Wyeth, whosecareer took off in 1937 when theAmerican realist painter andregionalist artist was only 20years old.

Much of the detail work onthe bust was done after Sessumshad the pleasure of being invit-ed to the studio and home of

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personalities: dr. kim sessums

the man who Sessums calls hismentor, unknowingly to Wyeth.

“Early on in life, I ran intothe works of Andrew Wyeth,and I think I was moreintrigued because there had tobe a story behind what he wasdoing,” he said. “It was such atremendous experience tospeak with and spend timewith one of the legends of art.It’s an opportunity I will neverforget.”

The finished bronze, alongwith a plaster casting, are nowin the Wyeths’ private collec-tion.

The same year, Sessums wascommissioned to create a por-trait bust of Dr. Winfred Wiser,a surgical mentor and friend,for the Winfred Wiser Womenand Infant Hospital on the cam-pus of the University MedicalCenter in Jackson.

The following year, Sessumswas fortunate enough to meetanother artist who also greatlyinfluenced his career, not onlywith her award-winning writ-ing, but also especially by herblack and white photography.He remembers what a pleasure

it was to sit in the presence ofPulitzer prize-winner EudoraWelty in her Jackson home ashe completed her portrait bust.

When finished, Sessumsasked the witty writer what shethought of the bust. Her answerwas nonetheless characteristicof her unique style.

“I hesitate to offer an opinionof my own likeness,” she said.“Now, should you ask if I pre-fer strawberry or vanilla icecream, I could say, withoutreservation, vanilla.”

In 1998, the Sessums spent 2days with evangelist BillyGraham in his North Carolinamountain-top log cabin home,where Sessums completed theonly figurative portrait ofGraham.

Sessums recently completedthe portrait bust of the accom-plished former U.S.Congressman from Mississippi,the late G.V. “Sonny”Montgomery. The life-sizebronze is now installed atMississippi State University,where Montgomery attendedcollege; and a second casting isin the U.S. Military Museum at

Camp Shelby. Montgomery wasand Army and National Guardveteran, who died at the age of85 in 2006.

A monumental public artcommission, called Bearing OneAnother’s Burdens, wasunveiled and dedicated on Oct.8, at the Pine Grove TreatmentCenter in Hattiesburg.

His most recent work, anover life-size full body portraitof College Football Hall ofFame Coach John H. Vaught,who served as head footballcoach for 25 years at Universityof Mississippi, leading teams to6 Southeastern Conference(SEC) titles and a share of 3national championships, wasunveiled Nov. 1, outside theVaught Hemingway Stadium.

Despite maintaining a pri-vate studio environment at hisBrookhaven home, withincreasing curiosity and enthu-siasm, more and more collec-tors are discovering Sessums’writing, drawing, painting andsculpting, as he creates worksto be read, viewed and held.

Photo Clockwise Top Left“Oldest Boy,” Giclee (pastel)

“Waiting for My Boy,” Giclee (pastel)“Three Generations,” Pastel on sand coated paper

For more information about the artist or his work, visit www.jkimsessums.com