In 2019 Lankton moved his home and studio from Ann Arbor to Cedar, Michigan near Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park. He is now only accepting work on a limited basis as he completes the building of his new studio and home.
History: Scott Lankton was born in Midland, Michigan in 1956. He attended Ohio State and received his B.F.A. from Western Michigan University in 1978. He opened his own studio in 1979. In 1985 he went to Aachen, Germany and received his Diploma at The International Teaching Center for Metal Design where he apprenticed under his late Master, Manfred Bredohl.
Until recently he has worked as a studio artist mostly doing architectural commissions in steel and bronze such as stair railings, gates, furniture, kitchen racks, swords, and sculpture. Recent projects include 180 feet of dogwood motif railing in steel and bronze, forging handguns into artwork, and a large hanging sculpture for a cancer center.
In 1988 the British Museum commissioned him to replicate the complex pattern welded sword from the famous Sutton Hoo Ship Burial (dated near 600 A.D.) This sword is now permanently displayed at the The British Museum in London alongside the original. His writings on this helped others to explore creating complex composite blades. See elsewhere on this site for details.
He has taught metalwork and blacksmithing at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Peter’s Valley Craft Center in New Jersey, Appalachian Center for Crafts, Smithville, TN, and Tillers International, Kalamazoo, MI. He has lead many workshops and demonstrated and lectured at national and international conferences such as ABANA, Ferro 2000, and Ferro 2005 in Germany and in Stia, Italy.
He was President, Vice President, and Financial Chair of ABANA, the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America. He served on their Board of Directors for nine years.
According to Lankton, “the spontaneity of forging hot steel continues to delight me as does the strength and integrity of this medium. I am fascinated by the duality of beauty and danger that that life combines and I hope that through my work, the lives of others will be made a bit more beautiful.”