Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Victory Hill. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Victory , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’ve wanted to be a professional artist since I was about 9 years old. I was taking classical, traditional art lessons from women in our community. I started with graphite drawings, then acrylics, and was even able to paint stage sets at a young age. Growing up in a large family, these lessons were some of the only moments of peace and I quiet I could get. I was able to disappear into my thoughts and fade out the background noise. I had a hard time in school; we moved a lot, and there was a lot of darkness in my childhood and adolescence, but art was the only thing that stayed consistent. My art was the only thing that people very rarely criticized in me, art was the one thing I had control over and could not be taken from me, something I could be proud of. I had several jobs, and starting in high school I realized quickly that working for other people required me to give up something of myself that I was not willing to give; my time, my dignity, sometimes my morals, sometimes my self-esteem, sometimes even my identity. I’ve always been someone to speak up, especially for others, and many times this did not go well for me in the workplace. I tried many many times. I even tried working for a mural company, but working long hours on someone else’s design for little appreciation or compensation (I know not everyone has this experience) was miserable. I would rather work long hours coming up with my own ideas, erasing, restart from scratch, restart again, cry with frustration, with blisters on my hands, cuts on my fingers, and a sore back, all for myself. Nothing. Nothing has been more satisfying than owning 100% of what I do. Owning 100% of the compliments. Knowing my work is on someone’s wall, or on someone’s outfit that I had carefully curated, altered, printed on, cured and ironed out.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I guess I got into the business of selling my art about four or five years ago. I have two children who are now 8 and 10. At the time, they were just starting to become a little bit more independent, as in, I could sit for than 10 seconds to focus on something I was interested in. I had always been creating and designing and sometimes I would share what I was working on with friends or on social media. A fellow mom friend owned a small business and saw one of my little drawings and asked if I would draw a piece for her business – her clients loved it. She then encouraged me to start selling my art and helped me (and by that I mean they really worked their magic and created the entire website!) and pushed me to put myself out there. I really really am thankful for their push (if you’re reading this Johanna, THANK YOU!!). A series of events, growing pains, self-reconstructions, transformations, historical social injustices, and a few years later… I took my drawings and my love for craftmanship, and a little bit of remembering a bit of what I learned about printing-making in high school, and realized that I loved hand-carving linoleum blocks and hand-printing my designs! I love how I can repeat my designs multiple times, but each piece still looks unique. It’s not a fast process at all, but I think there is something primal-feeling about it. Something so natural. I love finding all the things I can print on, and pushing myself to more difficult, intricate designs. I have some blocks that have taken at least 8 hours to carve, but a good audiobook always makes the time fly. I have ADHD so it’s hard for me to stick with hobbies for long, but I also have autism, so hobbies that allow me to zone out, stim, listen to comforting sounds, and also focus on intricate, satisfying details are the real game-changer! Printmaking has allowed me to combine many of my artistic skills into one – designing, drawing, carving, and “painting” (the ink part).

I started Victory Studio almost exactly a year ago, in September 2023. I had always said that if I had the space, if I had a studio, I would start my business full time and sell my work at markets and stores. That summer I aquired a shed that someone was going to throw away. I’ve always loved repurposing and a big project! So I reassembled it, made many improvements and personalizations, including lots of natural light, and then I had it – my very own studio in my backyard! I instantly got to work, and did my first market with Groovehive in St Pete in October! I was expecting it would take a while to feel successful, but my first market was a hit and its become almost a full time job! I truly, truly love what I do!

Victory Studio is a queer, Black woman-owned creative business that designs and prints on various papers, patches, considerately and ethically-curated and upcycled clothing, tees, totes, tea towels, and hand-sewn tapestries. Victory Studio believes in climate change and human rights, and many pieces reflect relevant, current or historical, and political events. You should feel good about what is on your walls, or on your body – without compromising yourself or others!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Never compromise yourself or others!
Your art matters. Art fills up most of our knowledge of human history – not words. Art has always told the story. So make sure you tell the truth. Make sure it matters. Don’t be afraid to take chances or make mistakes. I know artists today are not taken seriously; the industry thrives on stealing our work, copying it, and cheapening it. (I really hate those $10 pieces at Target)
Is it hard? Absolutely. Would it be easier to give up and work at that corporation? Absolutely. Find a way to survive in ORDER to do art. Make your art part of the lens in which you see the world and recreate it! Fall in love with the textures, colors, shades, layers, sounds, and sounds around you. While it’s easy to become numb, DON’T. Feel everything! This is what drives me.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society needs to stop taking artists for granted. Start treating us like the historians, teachers, poets, like the physical thesaurus’ that we are! I’ve never met a “lazy” artist, not a real one at least. We are constantly musing, collecting, curating, feeling, transforming, realizing, thinking of how we can translate the world around us, and then we break our bodies and open up our souls to make it physical. Listen and see and feel our stories as the valuable resources that they are! Don’t balk at our prices and turn around and buy that $10 look-a-like at Target that a million people have on their walls. Pay us for our lens, pay us for our stories, pay us to tell your stories! A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Artists are the mortar that holds societies together! We can make you laugh, we can make you cry, we can make you see a mirror, we can make you dance, we can make you love, we can make you rage, we can make you live! Pay us to live! And for gods sake, pay indigenous artists, pay Black artists, pay Palestinian artists!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Victory_designs_studio

Image Credits

Nova