untitled

Elizabeth Layton, artist

1909–1993

untitled, August 1984

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: colored pencil; pencil

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 30.2 x 31.6 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 7/8 x 12 7/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Lynn Bretz and Janet Hamburg

Accession number: 2011.0475

Not on display

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Brosseau Center for Learning: Disability Visibility: In Conversation with the 2022–2023 KU Common Book

Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and experienced profound depression for much of her life, leading to several psychiatric hospitalizations and rounds of electroconvulsive therapy. Yet it was not these interventions but rather drawing that provided Layton with lasting therapeutic benefits. Layton was 68 when she took her first art class and learned the technique of blind contour drawing. She used art to advocate for causes she believed in and grapple with mental illness.

Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body

Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton was 68 when she took her first art class at Ottawa University (Ottawa, Kansas) in 1977. There she learned the technique of blind contour drawing used to create Woman’s Suffrage, her first known drawing, shown above. She helpfully illustrates this method in the 1984 untitled work hanging here. Layton’s innate talent was quickly recognized, but she had little interest in commercializing her practice. Instead, she used art as a means to advocate for causes she believed in and grapple with mental illness. She credited learning to draw with alleviating her deep depression following the death of her son in 1976.

Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body