Today we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Vaughan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Heidi. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
Thank you! My gallery, Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, is an art gallery and art consulting firm located in the Upper Kirby Galleries in Houston, Texas. The gallery specializes in primary and secondary market art sales, art valuation, international art brokerage, and appraisal services for private, corporate, and institutional clients. The services offered are designed to manage the long-term needs of collectors at all levels, including first time collectors. I have a master’s degree in art history from the University of Houston and I am an Accredited Appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers. Programming at the gallery is focused on Houston artists who have significant exhibition histories and whose works are in important public and private collections. The gallery also shows works by other Texas artists. All secondary market art available, which comes from Houston collections, comes with impeccable provenance.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Previously I worked as a private art appraiser and broker and had pop-up and private sales over cocktails in collectors’ homes. I only moved into a gallery space when one of Houston’s most beloved appraisers, my friend Sandy Parkerson, retired and made it available last year. Spaces in the Upper Kirby Galleries don’t open up very often. I didn’t like the idea of risking my personal funds, but the risk ended up being a wise business decision. I’ve had 180 sales since last year. For now, I invest what I make back into the gallery. This summer, the second round of improvements will be made to the physical gallery space.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Heidi Vaughan Fine Art – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Heidi Vaughan Fine Art represents some of Houston’s most important artists working today. Art is available from these Houston and Texas-based artists: Alton DuLaney, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Susan Budge, Hillerbrand+Magsamen, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, Avisheh Mohsenin, Emilie Duval, Emma Balder, Farima Fooladi, Roberta Harris, Viveka Barnett, Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee, Ron Hartgrove, Michael Mogavero, Larry Graeber, Mary Margaret Hansen, and Jeff Wheeler. We are just finalizing plans to be the exclusive dealer of a very important body of photographic work, but I’m not able to be specific about it just yet. I can give you a little teaser: The photographer’s work is in the current exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in the Icons of Style show. The gallery also works pretty significantly with secondary market art. Most art collectors are very passionate and love to just keep collecting, and at some point, they have to start letting things go (or else keep moving to bigger and bigger homes). By selling secondary market art here, we actually protect artists’ markets. Sometimes when an artist’s work goes to auction, it doesn’t do as well as it could. That auction sale unfortunately becomes a public record available on subscription art sales databases like Artnet. Appriasers like me use Artnet to value art. A bad public sale can and does affect an artist’s prices. The final sales prices for works sold here are not a public record. We sell a lot of secondary market art. Sometimes collectors just need a change. We work with estates often. There are a number of reasons people have art to sell. The Four Big Ds are: Death, Divorce, Debt, and Disaster (think Harvey). We have handled works by KAWS, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, Larry Bell, Chen Wenling, Chul Hyun Anh, Marsden Hartley, Otto Mueller, Chuck Close, Tom Wesselmann, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Hiroshi Watanabe, Ansel Adams, and many, many more. One of our most exciting sales was of a very fine Marsden Hartley oil painting I came across on a house call in Memorial. The decedent was related to a famous art collector, and she had inherited the painting, among many other exceptional works. We promoted the Hartley on Instagram and through that, sold it to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, which is one of the finest Modern art museums in the world. It will be exhibited this Fall in a Marsden Hartley retrospective there, and will be included in the catalog that is being published. It will be the first time the painting has been seen in public for decades, and the first time it will be published. Sometimes we come across a work of art for which we don’t have the clientele. In such cases, we send it to auction. We have worked with Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, Bonhams, Heritage, and Simpson Galleries, located here in Houston, to sell works of art. We are also available for assistance with fine art appraisals for insurance purposes, equitable distribution of assets, charitable contributions, and advice regarding the liquidation of entire estates. I should mention we can also appraise a single work of art. It doesn’t have to be an entire collection. Speaking of collections, though, we have been fortunate to represent an important Texas art museum, and have done three rounds of appraisals for them, which has been a real honor.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
New shows are always something to plan for. We are part of the Upper Kirby Galleries, which is the oldest gallery row in Houston. About every five to six weeks, all the galleries have a new exhibition opening. The openings are all coordinated, so every gallery has an event on the same evening. It’s like a block party on Lake Street and Colquitt, with lots of different art to see, and a really great crowd. HVFA is booked out for the next two years. Yes, there is a lot to look forward to!
Contact Info:
- Address: 3510 Lake Street
- Website: https://heidivaughanfineart.com/
- Phone: 8328756477
- Email: heidi@heidivaughanfineart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidivaughanfineart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heidivaughanfineart/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeidiArt66
- Other: https://www.isa-appraisers.org/members/Profile/9812
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition, please let us know here.
