Jim Gatling exhibit at East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City
- Ongoing: until Saturday, December 18, 2010
- Monday: 11:30am
- Wednesday: 11:30am
- Friday: 11:30am
- Where: East Arkansas Community College, Forrest City
- Cost: Free
- Age limit: Not available
East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City will present a Gallery Exhibit from October 1st through December 18th in the Fine Arts Center featuring the works of artist, quilt artist, and teacher, Jim Gatling.
Gatling is the only quilting teacher sanctioned by the Arkansas State Department of Education. He has taught over 2,000 children art, needle arts, and quilting at Morrilton High School in Morrilton. Gatling has been the artistic director, set designer, and costume maker for over 150 school and plays, musicals, and civic productions.
Although Gatling was born in Memphis, he grew up on the family farm in Forrest City, Arkansas and graduated from Forrest City High School in 1969. He was a broom maker, basket weaver, and relief potter at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, in 1969 and 1970. Gatling graduated from State College of Arkansas in Conway with a BSE in art and music in 1973. He taught public school art and stitchery for the South Conway County School District (SCCSD) at Morrilton High School for 30 years. After retiring from public school teaching he now teaches art part time at the Sacred Heart Catholic Schools. He recently retired from the Petit Jean Country Headlight Newspaper in Morrilton as a photographer, school and social writer, ad builder, and paste-up artist after 25 years.
For 30 years, the stitchery students of SCCSD have made quilts under the direction of Gatling. The Morrilton School Quilt Collection has over 50 quilts of all sizes. The award-winning collection has been recognized in local, state, and international quilt shows. Gatling has had his personal quilts and antique collections shown in exhibitions, has won several state quilting awards, and he continues to lecture and participate in shows throughout the South.
Gatling has been nominated for one of President Bush’s “Points of Light” for his community involvement. He has been nominated 6 times as an “Arkansas Treasure.” He was the South Conway County Teacher of the Year in 1988. He is the past president of the Arkansas Quilter’s Guild in Little Rock and is a member of the Central Arkansas Quilters in Conway. He is also a member of the National Button Society and the Button Project of Little Rock, Morrilton Sit & Sew, Second Saturday, World of China Painters, The Beaders, and Heart & Hand.
He is the son of the late William C. “Bill” Gatling of Forrest City and Dorothy Dean “Dot” Campbell Gatling, now residing in Morrilton.
Daily hours for the Fine Arts Center Gallery will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. or as scheduled for special group tours. There is no charge for admission. For more information call 870-633-4480 or visit our website at www.eacc.edu.
This event was posted Oct. 3, 2010 and last updated Oct. 5, 2010
