Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton Artwork
The Landon Center on Aging is privileged to be home for
several Elizabeth Layton original drawings. Elizabeth Layton, a Wellsville
Kansas native, has received international acclaim for her drawings. They have
been shown at the Smithsonian, American Visionary Art Museum in Maryland, and
other venues throughout the country and overseas.
Grandma Layton, as she was known, did not begin drawing
until the age of 68. Her pursuit of drawing was at the urging of her sister, who
believed art would help Elizabeth, who had suffered 35 years of major
depression. She enrolled in a "Contour Drawing" art class in the fall semester
of 1977 at Ottawa University.
Her work is an inspiration and a testimony to the
contributions older adults can make to all of us.
The Landon Center on Aging is also proud to display 16 of
Elizabeth Layton's This Motherless Child series. The series assists the
viewer in understanding what it is like to move to a nursing home. The series
starts out with older adult leaving home to enter a nursing home. The drawings
depict some of the events of daily life as nursing home resident. By the end of
series, the older adult comes to see nursing home, as a “home.”
To view the Layton artwork come visit us at the Theo and
Alfred M. Landon Center on Aging.
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For Rent
This drawing was created by Grandma Layton in the spring
of 1987, when she was 76 years old. She draws herself and her husband Glen in
the process of hanging a bird house in their backyard. The bird house was a gift
from a friend and is featured in a number of Grandma Layton drawings. "For
Rent" was donated by George Seymour to the Landon Center on Aging.
Click on each image for larger view. |
| Daisy Chain
 Elizabeth
completed this drawing of her husband Glen and herself in the summer of
1990, three years prior to her death at age 83. Many of her drawings
contained her husband and document their love. She also flat out rejected
society’s preoccupation with youth. Throughout her drawings she includes
older adults. Her friend and promoter Don Lambert said that she wanted to
send the message that not only is it OK to be old; it is just fine to look
old too! "Daisy Chain" was donated to the Landon Center on Aging by
Maurine Adams in memory of her husband, Paul Adams.
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Pink on Pink
This Grandma Layton drawing was completed in March 1990. Elizabeth Layton
had created it as a fund-raiser for an ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) auction.
Elizabeth herself never sold any of the more than 1,000 drawings she created
during her 15 year career as an artist. She told her friend, Don Lambert,
"Me finding drawing was a miracle—you don’t sell miracles."
"Pink on Pink" was donated to the Landon Center on Aging by Mr. and Mrs.
Bernard Nordling. |
| Basket of Flowers
 Elizabeth
"Grandma Layton", created this drawing at the age of 81, in 1991. She drew
her husband Glen and herself around a basket of flowers. She once told her
friend and promoter, Don Lambert, "I love drawing Glen—he has such
interesting lines." The basket of flowers was probably a gift from a
visitor. Layton received many gifts of flowers from friends, and was known
to include the flowers in her next drawing and then send the drawing to the
person who gave her the flowers. She used old oatmeal containers as make
shift mailing tubes. "Basket of Flowers" was donated to the Landon
Center on Aging by Maurine Adams in memory of her husband, Paul Adams.
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