Curt Layman was born in Indianapolis in 1940 and grew up on a farm in Kansas. He received a BFA in painting and drawing from Texas Christian University, leaving a figure drawing in the Permanent Collection. A stint in the Army led him to edit a unit newspaper in Viet Nam where he also was a combat photographer. He learned the basics of handling gouache watercolor and perspective as an architectural renderer in Kansas City with Scheffer Studio, then moved to Colorado Springs in the early 1970's to go out on his own. In the meantime he continued to draw whenever he could, teaching life drawing, taking graduate classes and painting oil landscapes. He has shown his work since at various galleries, sold a pastel landscape to US West, had a one man show and began designing theater sets after winning a design contest, then designed sets for the Aspen Music Festival Opera and various theater companies around Colorado, including the Shakespeare Festival. He won Best of Show in the El Paso County Fair, and entered the Colorado State Fair show twice receiving an Honorable Mention in 1998-99. He was in was the River Rock Gallery in 2001, The University Of Colorado, Colorado Springs gallery in 2002, and The Warehouse Gallery in 2007/08. He maintains a small window gallery on Colorado Avenue in Old Colorado City near his studio. He has a son, Tim, and a daughter, Rachel, as well as 2 grandsons!