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2009-11-21

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Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 10:36 AM

‘Grandma’ Layton nominated for ‘8 Wonders of Kansas Art’ list

By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer

Don Lambert connected a few dots during the Kansas Sampler Foundation’s announcement that Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton was one of the finalists of the foundation’s “8 Wonders of Kansas Art” contest.

Lambert noted that Layton’s father was a state legislator who introduced the resolution in 1941 ordering Kansas native John Steuart Curry to stop working on the then-controversial Statehouse murals, which also are finalists in the 8 Wonders contest. The legislators’ criticism embittered Curry.

“There was a collective groan from the people,” Lambert said of his story.

Lambert knows both. As a reporter with The Ottawa Herald, he helped launch Layton’s art career.

And as an art impresario, he helped end a decades long tiff between Curry’s family and the state when he helped persuade legislators to issue an apology for the treatment of Curry.

Layton and Curry’s murals are among 24 finalists in the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art sponsored by Kansas Sampler.

Other finalists include: Thomas Hart Benton’s “Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley,” on display at the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence; Blue Sky Sculpture, Newton; Boyer Museum of Animated Carvings, Belleville; Buffalo Bill Bronze Sculpture, Oakley;

Martin Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection at Ulrich Art Museum, Wichita; Davis Memorial, Hiawatha; Dreamers Awake sculpture at Wichita Art Museum, Pete Felten Stone Sculptures, Hays;

Garden of Eden/Lucas, Grassroots Art Mecca; Stan Herd Earthworks, Atchison and Lawrence; Justice statue, Kansas Judicial Center, Topeka; Kansas Art Collection at Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manahttan; Keeper of the Plains, Wichita; M.T. Liggett’s Metal Sculptures, Mullinville;

Gordon Parks, Fort Scott; Post Office Section Art, statewide; Red Barn Studio, Lindsborg; St. Mary’s Catholic Church, St. Benedict; Birger Sandzen, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg; Do-Ho Suh’s Some/One, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park; Tiffany Windows, First Presbyterian Church, Topeka; Wichita High School North exterior paintings.

“The diversity of these finalists is tremendous,” Kansas Sampler Foundation director Marci Penner said “From the exterior of a school to the contemporary art of a military dog tag sculpture, the public is going to see Kansas art with new eyes.”

Layton’s paintings are on display across the country and she achieved a national reputation, Lambert said. In recent years, her works have garnered more popularity, he said.

Layton’s art began when she was 68. Desperate to cope with a 35-year bout of depression and grief from the death of a son, Layton enrolled in an art class on “contour drawing.” Her art helped her fight her depression and launched a nearly 20-year art career and more than 1,000 works.

Most of her primitive works are tart reflections on capital punishment, sexism, poverty, hunger and ageism — and could be raw.

“There are people who don’t like her art and never will,” Lambert said.

But there are many more who were affected by her art and life, he said.

The eight wonders will be determined by a public vote.

People are encouraged to vote online at 8wonders.org , call (620) 585-2374 for a ballot, or pick up a ballot at finalists that have an office. Voting is under way and will end at midnight Oct. 15 . The top eight will be announced Oct. 31.

Lambert said he likes that people have to vote for eight. In addition to having their favorites, they may have to take a trip to see other sites, which is the idea of the 8 Wonders contests, he said.

“Maybe with the price of gas ... there will be greater interest in Kansas museums and art galleries,” he said.

Unlike other art wonders, which are at particular sites, there’s no particular place closely associated with Layton, whose works are spread at many museums and galleries.

“There aren’t too many places with a lot of her art,” Deborah Barker, Franklin County Historical Society executive director, said.

The Wellsville Library, 115 W. Sixth St., has six of her original drawings are on the walls of the library, she said. Library hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Eisenhower Road clinic of the Elizabeth Layton Center for Hope and Guidance has one original work and three prints in the main lobby.

Sixteen of her drawings and writings from her “nursing home series”are on permanent display in a second floor classroom, Room 220, at the Landon Center on Aging at the KU Med Center in Kansas City, Kan. Hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday

The Layton family maintains a Web site with several examples of her drawings at www.elizabethlayton.com .

A group is trying to start a Wellsville museum and, because a son, Steve Layton, is chairman of the group, the museum could become a major depository of Grandma Layton’s art, Barker said.

In the meantime, the historical society plans a permanent exhibit on Layton and could try an exhibit of her works if she’s named one of the 8 Wonders, she said.

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‘Grandma’ Layton nominated for ‘8 Wonders of Kansas Art’ list

By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.