Fear, Elizabeth Layton

Artwork Overview

Elizabeth Layton, Fear
Elizabeth Layton, Fear
Elizabeth Layton
Fear
November 4, 1981
Elizabeth Layton
1909–1993
Fear, November 4, 1981
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: pencil; colored pencil
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 77 x 56.5 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 30 5/16 x 22 1/4 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 36 x 30 in
Credit line: Gift of Lynn Bretz and Janet Hamburg
Accession number: 2011.0477
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 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. Nevertheless, her struggles with mental health often appear in her drawings. In Fear, Layton portrays herself wide-eyed and cowering in a closet. Next to her, a door is padlocked from the inside, keys hanging nearby, suggesting that the literal key to her escape from the fear is within reach, but that she is unable to grasp it. An empty prescription bottle indicates that Layton manages her condition through medication, but that it may not be effective or has worsened because she ran out of pills.
Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body
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. Nevertheless, her struggles with mental health often appear in her drawings. In Fear, Layton portrays herself wide-eyed and cowering in a closet. Next to her, a door is padlocked from the inside, keys hanging nearby, suggesting that the literal key to her escape from the fear is within reach, but that she is unable to grasp it. An empty prescription bottle indicates that Layton manages her condition through medication, but that it may not be effective or has worsened because she ran out of pills.

Exhibitions

Brosseau Center for Learning: Disability Visibility: In Conversation with the 2022–2023 KU Common Book
2022
Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body
Cassandra Mesick Braun, curator
2021

Citations

Lambert, Don, and Elizabeth Layton. The Life and Art of Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton. Waco, Texas: WRS Publishing, 1995.