Swimming with the Sea Turtles

I’m opening the digital doors behind the scenes to highlight the Eastern repoussé Turtle Doors, another piece from my retrospective Radiant Echoes that was hugely significant, partially because of the scale but mostly because I successfully pulled off something I’d never seen done before.

Eastern repousse, Turtle Pocket Doors by Victoria Lansford for a custom built superyacht — Eastern repousse *Turtle Doors* by Victoria Lansford for a custom built superyacht

It’s difficult for me to believe that it’s been eight years since I began pounding away on the pocket doors’ four 4 x 5 foot sheets of copper. I created the prototype in late 2015 with a 12 x 12 in. sample of one turtle’s head. Due to delays in the shipyard’s sending the frames, we began the doors in early March, 2017 and shipped them in late August of the same year. My project assistants were Deanna Pastel, Uduak Ita, Skyler Hassan, and Chris Balch. It took all of us working at warp speed with painfully little sleep to make the impossible deadline. The company that hired me on behalf of the superyacht’s owner kept pushing up the deadline. I finally had to break it to them that all the rush fees in the world couldn’t possibly make the project happen any faster.

We hammered the panels from the 4 sheets of copper that I then riveted together to form the 2 pocket doors. As we outgrew the limited space in my studio, we took over my screened in porch and eventually the deck. At the client’s request, I rendered the design in multiple circular textures and strategically drilled holes to allow light to come through. The relief tapers so that the design fades at the outside edges of the doors. Lacquer protects the patinated doors’ finish.

Victoria chasing the initial lines on the Turtle Doors for a superyacht’s media screen

Several weeks after we shipped the doors, I woke up in Paris in a complete panic that I’d overslept and needed to get hammering or I’d never make the deadline. I remember the deep, vivid orange of our 2nd Arrondissement apartment’s bedroom. As my eyes adjusted to being awake, I noted the beautiful Indonesian shadow puppets decorating its walls, and realized, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” I was on vacation with my family, and, though I packed supplies for the filigree workshop I taught in Cornwall, I had purposely not packed a single hammer. The project was over, and that ship had literally sailed…with 2 huge pieces of art I’d created for it onboard (my other piece was the Etched Room Divider).

Honestly, I’m still recovering. There remains, however, one big bonus: After fearing I’d spent so much effort on behalf of some evil oligarch, I was relieved and delighted to learn that the owner had put her money and her boat toward an exceptionally good environmental cause.

My studio assistant on the project, De Pastel, chasing the first pass on the large domes' lines — Project assistant Deanna Pastel chasing the initial lines on the larger raised domes

After hammering the Turtle Doors'
riveted panels to wrap around the
frames, assistant Chris Balch holds the
wrap in place as Victoria secures the
copper to the frame. — After hammering the riveted panels to wrap around the frames, assistant Chris Balch holds the wrap in place as Victoria secures the copper to the frame.

Victoria drilling the
patterned holes for the rivets — Victoria drilling the patterned holes for the rivets

Victoria’s work is striking for her fearlessness in changing scale. She works comfortably across the micro-detailed intricacy of carefully orchestrated granulation to the grandeur of large-scale architectural interiors.
A great deal of trouble can come with changing scale – ranging from the physical to the technical to the conceptual – and few metalsmiths manage it as successfully as she does.
From the Essay From Spiral Galaxies to Whorls of Wire: A Conversation with Victoria Lansford
by Rauni Higson, Radiant Echoes: The Metal Mastery Of Victoria Lansford, 2024

Eastern repousse, Turtle Screens by Victoria Lansford

Turtle Doors Eastern repoussé panels, wrapped around frames to create electric, sliding, pocket doors to cover the media screen in the lounge of a bespoke, 69 meter superyacht, 2017 Copper, wood, pigment, and aluminum 61 x 82 x 3 in — *Turtle Doors* (detail)

Visit the Eastern Repoussé Turtle Doors’ page to watch videos of them in the making.

Return to the Exhibition Map

Inside images from Radiant Echoes page spread of "Lost in a Masquerade" — Look inside *Radiant Echoes:* page spread of “Lost in a Masquerade”

Radiant Echoes: The Metal Mastery of Victoria Lansford showcases the artist’s journey through over three decades of ground-breaking applications of historical metalsmithing techniques. This retrospective publication comprehensively not only explores Lansford’s endless ability with complex metalsmithing techniques including filigree, Eastern repoussé, and granulation, but also speaks to how her skill and vision marry in the creation of objects that filters tradition through a contemporary lens. Simultaneously an artist, alchemist, and shaman, Lansford brings together the familiar with the unexpected through creative work that rethinks the millennia-old practice of turning raw materials into precious objects.

The book features over 150 images of art jewelry, art objects, and large-scale metalwork drawn from across Lansford’s career as well as a comprehensive glossary of her techniques used, offering a unique opportunity for readers to explore the evolution of Lansford’s creativity and craftsmanship. Radiant Echoes will make a fantastic addition to the library of anyone who loves jewelry, sculpture, metalsmithing, or simply contemplating beautiful objects.

Radiant Echoes includes new essays by curators, scholars, and artists including Kate Bonansinga, Cynthia Eid, Rauni Higson, Elyse Zorn Karlin, Victoria Lansford, and Jane Milosch, with consulting editor Emily Zilber.

Full color, casebound, 186+ pages

ISBN 978-0-9821833-6-6