![\"Victoria-Lansford-2w\"](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2018\/06\/Victoria-Lansford-2w-217x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For those of you that are not acquainted with Victoria\u2019s metal working, it cannot be easily summed up in one sentence. With spiraling filigree, voluminous chasing and repouss\u00e9, and flourishing calligraphy, her work is not confined to one style, technique, or scale.\u00a0 However all of her work has strong roots in historical metalsmithing. Her techniques encompass traditions from ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and even metal working found along the Silk Road. Her dedication to historical metalsmithing has garnered a greater interest and appreciation for historical techniques in our contemporary jewelry culture. \u00a0Victoria\u2019s passion and dedication for preserving these techniques, is evident by her fervent attention to teaching worldwide, as well as through her online videos, workshops, books, and blog.<\/p>\n
Taking a closer look at Victoria\u2019s work, you will also find a great attention to line quality; using broad gestured curves, which speak the language of movement. With each piece, your eye can\u2019t help but follow these lines; as if the artwork is begging you do a choreographed dance.\u00a0 So, it will come as no surprise that Victoria was once a professional jazz and modern dancer. \u00a0After an injury which left her unable to dance, Victoria was in search of a new passion to pursue.\u00a0 Metal had been an interest of Victoria\u2019s since she was small child, so it only seemed natural this would become the next chapter of her life. Victoria recalls the first moment she fell in love with idea of jewelry making.\u00a0 As said by Victoria \u201cThe Christmas I was five years old a friend gave me a very strange board game, called Voice of the Mummy.\u00a0 I became completely mesmerized by the ancient Egyptian artwork all over the game and then obsessed with the metalwork from the New Kingdom dynasties.\u00a0 I desperately wanted to know how the work was created and promised myself one day I’d learn\u201d. In the fall of 1989 she began her studies in jewelry and silversmithing at Georgia State University where she studied under Richard Mafong and artist in residence Gia Gogishvilli.\u00a0 Victoria was instantly captivated, and would later go on to establish the Metalsmithing Department at Spruill Center for the Arts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One might wonder, \u201chow does she do it all, and still have time to make jewelry?\u201d\u00a0 We asked Victoria how she manages her studio-life balance, and this is what she said\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cMy studio is in my home. On perfect days, I wake up before everyone else, sneak down the hall still in my pajamas, and begin drawing. Unfortunately, there are very few perfect days.\u00a0 Most days I immediately get sucked into my Mac and the 4+ hours\/day it takes to manage the business side of being a professional artist, writer, metalsmithing product developer, and educator.<\/p>\n I work on more pieces at one time than I can even keep track of. \u00a0Seriously, there are about 15-20 pieces going at any one time with another 30-50 on hold, waiting for me to get back to them. About 75% of these are metal\/jewelry and 25% are drawings, calligraphic pieces, or Medieval inspired illuminated miniatures\u2026 Jumping around keeps me more creative and less mired in all the grunt work that metalsmithing sometimes requires.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While Victoria is actively working in her studio, she can be found listening to an array of jazz, funk, and disco, interspersed with BBC Radio. In her words \u201cmy left brain needs a problem to solve while my right brain is being creative\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 We suspect Victoria may have listened to a lot of BBC recently as she just completed a couple of large scale projects for a bespoke, 69 meter long\u00a0 super yacht.\u00a0\u00a0 The first piece was a room divider, comprised of 104 etched copper panels, each one artfully designed to interlock and create an underwater scene.\u00a0\u00a0 The second project was a 61\u201d by 82\u201d\u00a0Eastern repouss\u00e9 relief of two sea turtles!<\/p>\n When asked to leave us with a tip for our readers, Victoria said \u201cI tell my students I \u201cplay chicken\u201d with metal, trying to get it to do things that haven\u2019t been done quite that way before and daring it to work\u201d<\/p>\n Learn more from Victoria during her Elegant Sculptural Rings<\/a> (August 8-10, 2018), and Russian Filigree<\/a> (August 11-12, 2018) Summer with the Masters workshop at Metalwerx in Waltham, MA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A day in the life of Victoria Lansford is multifaceted to say the least- it is a masterful balancing act, consisting of business work, writing for one of her many books or blogs, creating instructional videos, and most importantly creating stunning work in metal. For those of you that are not acquainted with Victoria\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2253,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/2253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Victoria-Lansford-soldering2\"](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2018\/06\/Victoria-Lansford-soldering2-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Victoria](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2018\/06\/Victoria-Lansdord-jewelry-300x125.jpg\")
<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 “Majestic” \/ “Return to Stardust” earrings by Victoria Lansford\u00a0<\/em>\n![\"Victoria](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2018\/06\/Victoria-Lansdord-jewelry2.jpg\")
“Starlit Nights” filigree earrings \/ “Relativity Navigator” by Victoria Lansford\n![\"Victoria-](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2018\/06\/Victoria-Turtle-Pic.jpg\")
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Copper “Turtle Screen” relief by Victoria Lansford<\/em>\n