Liz Layton is a symbolist painter who utilizes shimmering, opalescent materials alongside water-based pigments as a way to transport the audience to an experience that is interactively unique, depending on light source and physical proximity to each painting.  She earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, and a Masters in the Art of Teaching, from East Tennessee State University.

Her latest solo exhibit, Filmed Brilliant with Irregular Rainbows, is a collection of paintings and dioramas that depict her exploration of personal memories and their visual symbols. These include her matrilineal ancestry, motherhood, film sets, movie theaters, Valentines, insects, flowers, and of course, rainbows. At once referencing the iridescence found within the natural world, such as sea shells, bubbles, and butterfly wings, as well as the Norse mythology of the rainbow-colored bridge to the afterlife, Bifröst, her paintings recognize the beauty of ephemeral, subjective experience and objective temporality. Layton believes we all experience multiple symbolic afterlives during the time that we exist – when one phase ends, a new phase begins. The observation of an object of iridescence then becomes a vanitas, or reminder of the transience of life.

Her paintings have been exhibited in various cities across Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as New York City, Reykjavík, and London. Her main artist influences are Agnes Pelton, Kate Bush, Hilma af Klint, Tali Lennox, and Leonora Carrington. Layton also creates music, short films, and interactive fiber art, under the multimedia project name, Liz the Prophetess, referencing the volcano she lived next to in Iceland, The Prophetess. She teaches elementary art and is based in Eastern Tennessee, with her two children.