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Gap, VA
Liz Layton
Liz Layton is an artist residing in
Johnson City, Tennessee. She recently
finished her Masters in Teaching from
East Tennessee State University. She
works mainly in fibers and film.
Layton found that there were connections
to her own heritage in Appalachia that she didnt
expect to find. What is really cool is that they
love storytelling. Its very similar to Appalachia
where storytelling is very important, but they are
also obsessed with heritage. They find it really
important to keep their traditions that are re-
ally old important. There is all this folklore and
all these stories. They still believe in magic, but
they are also religious.
Even though Iceland is a deeply Christian
country, traditional magic is still incorporated into
everyday life. There is also a fortune teller who
lives in the town and does fortunes, but they are
also very religious so they have a church right
next to it. A lot of the towns still have fortune
tellers, and they are mostly women. To them, its
not magic, its just part of life, its intuitive. This
intuitiveness mixed with religion is also a fixture
in Appalachian heritage. Even today, healers
and granny-witches commonly heal ailments
not treatable with modern medicine.
Layton addresses these similarities in
culture by grasping the persona of rds and
drawing this connection to herself. rds was
deeply connected to her namesake mountain
and drew her strength and magic from it. This
connection with nature and art is addressed in
Laytons repetitive mantra of multiple artworks
depicting the mountain. Walking up the moun-
tain in every season became a pilgrimage to
Layton.
Another connection Layton made be- Because of this pre-disposed connection to art and fibers, Layton found that
tween her Appalachian heritage and Iceland collaboration in art was simple for her. She found that while she made her movie in
was the textile traditions. The townspeople Iceland, a lot of the locals helped. Because storytelling is so important there, people
love textiles, and have a tradition of making were very open to collaborating. I had three or four little girls who helped out, one
things, mostly of wool, perhaps due to their whose name was rds in real life, so I had her play a little rds.
proximity to a town about 20 minutes away Magic and mystery prevail through Laytons pieces. The layers of bright color
which was the origin of all the Icelandic tex- and glitter entice the viewer to find a visual and conceptual depth to her work. Al-
tiles. They make wool sweaters out of Icelan- though Layton uses traditional quilting methods, she expands them by using digital
dic sheeps wool. This deep connection to the video stills for her fabric designs and glitter glue for highlight areas. Layton takes her
arts, particularly fibers let to a direct connec- influences from global society but still gives a nod to her own tradition through the
tion between Layton and the Icelandic culture. use of fabric.
In the town she visited, there was a mountain near her studio that became a
focal point of her art-making. The mountain is named after the woman who settled
the town in the 1300s. Her name was rds, but many people just call it Prophetess
Mountain. I became really interested in this mountain because of the shape of it. Its
not huge but it used to be a volcano, thats why it has the flat top now, but its dor-
mant. It formed all of the town that is there. The mountain became a symbol Layton
chose to interpret in multiple pieces.
Someday I would like to live there, even if its just for a year, to see all the
seasons change. To her, it was important to depict it in different times of day and
seasons to show the differences in light and color. A lot of mountain images Ive
made look similar, but I have done them in different seasons, so some have ice and
snow in the wintertime, in the summertime it gets really green with fuzzy moss.
rds was a fortune teller or soothsayer and her story is passed down through each
generation. Layton chose to interpret rds legacy throughout her time in the art-
ist residency. I thought she was an interesting character so I made some short films
about her, and some paintings and other things based on her story. Throughout her
explorations of this character, she found a fellow filmmaker to collaborate with.
The first time I went, I went with my husband, but the second time I went by
myself. It was my first time really traveling by myself there was this woman who was
a filmmaker, and I was making a short film about rds, the prophetess and she was
making a movie about people who were obsessed with her. There are people there
that love her, and she wanted to investigate these people. When I told her I was mak-
ing a short film where I was playing her, she wanted to interview and document me.
It was interesting to have that different perspective of her film and mine. Ive been
obsessed about making art about her [rds], but Im also interested in making art
through movies and videos.