VIVIAN WISE
HEIDI VAUGHAN FINE ART is proud to present GROWING UP WISE, an exhibition of paintings, photographic image transfers, assemblage sculptures, poetry, and original music by artist, poet, and song writer Vivian Wise. The show opens on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 11 am at 3510 Lake St., in the Upper Kirby Galleries in Houston's Oldest Gallery Row. A reception with the artist will take place that evening from 5 to 8. A story time event with the artist is scheduled for May 29, from 6:30 to 8:30. An event with songwriter/singer/producer John Evans takes place June 5, from 6:30 to 8:30. An event featuring spoken word with WAN poetry takes place June 19, from 6:30 to 8:30. An artist talk with ekphrastic responses will round out the special events on June 20, from 1 to 3. It is also the final day of the show.
This exhibition marks a turning point in the life of the artist. According to Wise, "This moment in my timeline is the definitive closing of a book and a door. It’s a funeral pyre for the "me" who died when I decided to put down the bottle, to get well, to be honest with myself and others, and to look forward and never look back. It is part ritual, part ceremony, part confession, part pilgrimage, part wake, part celebration, and part funeral procession all culminating in the soul awakening and the beginning of the next volume of my life's timeline. With the gratitude and love, humility and grace, courage and strength, purpose and passion learned and gained from the experiences represented by the show, Growing Up Wise, I am more Wise now than ever before. I look forward to learning more every day from those I already know and those I will meet along the journey of my life."
Vivian Wise was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up listening to her parent’s music while lying on the floor with her head at the base of her father’s McIntosh speakers. She loved the vibration of the bass in her bones. Her synesthesia made each note a color, so songs were paintings, the words only part of the story each song was telling her. She read every book she could get her hands on and began to write stories and poems at the age of eight. Watching her mother paint, she fell in love with visual art and worked at an art gallery while still in high school. She won awards for her collages at the state level.
Wise attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, graduating cum laude with a BA in English Literature. In her free time, she delved into the ways history and fashion intertwine, finding yet another media in which to create. After graduating, she bought her favorite store, The Velvet Slipper, in lieu of law school and opened her second location in Houston in 2000 where she became famous for her excellent taste in designer shoes and her philanthropy. She transformed Fashion Houston into Heart of Fashion, a fashion production company whose tagline, For art, for good, highlighted the artistry of fashion and proclaimed its mission, a large portion of proceeds going to local charities via her 501c3 Texas Legacy Foundation. In 2015, her health began to decline and the work became too demanding. In 2016, bedridden for 198 days, she was finally diagnosed with seven autoimmune diseases, three of which are incredibly rare. She was given a grim prognosis by her doctors, Get your affairs in order. She began to create again in earnest, returning to what she loved most: poetry, visual art, and songwriting. She credits all three disciplines as the reason she is still creating ten years later. Primarily self-taught, Vivian has spent the last four summers at Anderson Ranch Arts Center taking workshops and intensives in different media. She has been awarded January studio fellowships with guided cohorts for the last three years. She serves on the national council for both Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Aspen Institute. She is a passionate supporter of Fresh Arts, Sire, The Orange Show, and multiple other nonprofit arts organizations in Houston and serves on the board for the Cirque Foundation, which raises funds for scholarships for individuals to receive treatment for alcoholism in Orem, Utah.
