Gatling's quilt design came from a dream
September 16, 2006

Noted quilt artist Jim Gatling from Morrilton, AR said he "dreams in Technicolor" and he "dreamed this quilt" pictured at left. He designed, fabricated and entered it in the “Men of Biblical Proportions” art quilt exhibit.

In its description he said, "I wanted this quilt to remind me of my great Aunt Bea and the Bible stories she taught us with a flannel board. I chose Genesis 19:1-38; the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Morton salt box represents Lot's wife as she looks back. The back of the quilt shows the demoralization of Gomorrah. While Gomorrah burns, sinners participate in a drunken orgy."

Before retirement Gatling was an art teacher at Morrilton High School. Each year the students in his art class created a quilt that became part of an outstanding collection exhibited at quilt shows and museums throughout the United States.

Gatling has a quilt in the companion exhibit “Men Can Cut It – Men In Quilting” which features the work of other Midwestern male quilters. The curator of this exhibit said, “The guys are on the move. Guys don’t have the hang-ups that we girls have. They don’t know the rules and most of them don’t use patterns. There are not as many men in quilting as there are women, but they are quietly doing their own thing.”

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