Artiists of W 18th St: Richard Layton
Artists of W 18th St Richard Layton The Laytons house faced W 19th St but their deep yard, where Dick had created a fairy-tale castle playhouse for their kids, extended to 18th, giving me license to claim Dick as a W 18th St artist. The Laytons were already there when we moved in in 1966. I had known Dick's wife Debbie in high school. and we quickly became reconnected. Dick attended the Philadelphia College of Art, and studied with Frank Schoonover, Carolyn Wyeth, and his friend Andrew Wyeth. I remember Dick being involved with many art projects beyond easel paintings, often sponsored by Wilmington arts patron W. W. "Chick" Laird. He designed interior panels for the theater that once occupied one floor of Breck's Mill in Henry Clay, and even painted faux windows to cover empty window openings in Walker's Mill across the Brandywine from Breck's. A large project that Dick was commissioned was a set of murals painted for the Dover Room dinning hall in what ...