Artist Robin Layton with a rug featuring her work
Robin Layton was just 15 years old and a student at J.R. Tucker High School when, flipping through National Geographic, she slapped her hand on the magazine in her lap and declared to her mother, “This is what I’m doing to do.” A short time later, Layton met renowned National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey through a chance encounter with Harvey’s wife while Layton waited for her guitar lesson. Harvey would become her mentor, eventually steering her toward Ohio University’s prestigious photography program.
“Some say I live under a lucky star, but I think it’s just because I’m grateful and in tune with the world,” Layton says.
With just her camera and an artistic eye, Layton now creates commissioned artwork for residential and commercial spaces from her idyllic home in Seattle. She began her career in 1985 as the first female photographer at The Sandusky Register in Sandusky, Ohio, eventually working for five newspapers over 16 years (including the Richmond Times-Dispatch) before transitioning to freelance work. Now this Richmond native is expanding her artistic offerings into home decor, including custom rugs in collaboration with Driscoll Robins, a high-end carpet dealer based in Seattle, and custom wallcoverings.
“I’m always looking for different avenues to express my art,” Layton says. Works of art in their own right, the rugs are hand-knotted in Nepal using hand-spun wool blended with silk. Layton’s wallcoverings, available by commission, feature her images and are available in a variety of finishes. In her own home, a large-as-life bison from Yellowstone National Park on textured paper captures the look and feel of an oil painting.
"Downtown Dog" by Robin Layton, framed between two foundry molds (Photo courtesy Robin Layton)
Always expanding the boundaries of traditional photography, Layton has a special fondness for combining images with vintage found objects. Her penchant for such treasures is rooted in memories of antiquing excursions with her mom. “There was this one wooden bowl. … I was hooked,” she says. “To me, barn wood is like a warm blanket.”
Layton’s mother was instrumental in helping her become the artist she is today. “My mom was an unbelievable artist” who devoted her time to raising their family rather than making art, she says. As her mother was dying in 2007, Layton decided, “I am not leaving this planet without finding the art that is inside of me.”
Even though Layton now calls Seattle home, she holds a special place in her heart for Richmond, which isn’t surprising for someone who practices gratitude with intensity. “[Gratitude] is my mantra. I never turn it off,” she says.
For more information, see robinlayton.com.
