Biography

As a wildlife conservation artist, Vickie McMillan-Hayes is closely attuned to the cycles in life, the metamorphoses and the evolutions, the ebb and flow of the seasons. To speak of her current life metaphorically, Vickie is perhaps in the late summer or early fall, in a period when she is extremely active, tending to the explosive growth all around her and reaping the rewards of early plantings. Yet her life has balance, as she shifts back and forth between her quiet time alone in the studio creating art and her interactions with others through her collaborative events and outreach programs. It is a full and rewarding season in her life, dedicated, as she likes to say, to ‘changing lives one painting at a time.’

Vickie has followed her vocation as an artist since she was a small child. A pre-K class at the YMCA alerted her parents to Vickie’s talent for art, which they supported throughout the rest of her childhood. ‘They even converted a room of our house into a studio for me when I was nine years old,’ she recalls. ‘It’s pretty amazing what my parents have done for me, and I give them all the credit.’ For a young girl who struggled academically, her gift for art and success with art competitions gave her an identity and a way to flourish.

Some years later, after graduating from the University of North Texas where she studied both graphic design and painting (even convincing the dean to award her a degree in watercolor’a first at the university), Vickie felt called to Africa to do missionary work. Naturally, however, she took her art materials with her. She can still recall the pivotal moment, the swing into a new season of her life, that happened there. ‘I started painting en plein air out in the wilds,’ she explains, ‘and it made me come alive. I felt at that moment a pressing desire’an overwhelming urge that couldn’t be denied!’to articulate through the use of brush and art all of the beautiful textures, colors, and details of the environment. I wanted to tell the story of my experience through my work.’ Her passion for wildlife art was unleashed, but as it has turned out, that was only the beginning.

In the years since discovering her desire to paint animals and nature, Vickie has blossomed into a true wildlife conservation artist. As such, she is driven to paint accurate wildlife paintings for others to better understand their responsibility to protect endangered wildlife and their habitats. ‘With each body of work,’ Vickie notes, ‘I become more keenly aware of the negative impact man has on all species, and how strongly I feel a need to educate the public on how we can all contribute to protecting our animals and environment for the next generations to enjoy.’

The process behind her conservation-inspired art begins with collecting reference material with her camera. She’s made many trips to African nations, other countries, and throughout the United States to photograph animals, the environment, and more. ‘These images often serve as the inspiration for my paintings,’ she explains. ‘With each picture, I can recall the adrenaline rush of being surrounded by a herd of three hundred Cape Buffalo, or the delight of watching a baby Nyala nurse on its mother, or the bone-chilling roar of a lion within feet of the Land Rover. I feel as though someone viewing my wildlife photographs can be transported and get lost in the mystique, adventure, and danger of these fascinating locations.’

Each painting begins with applying a special recipe of thick, abstract shapes that create depth and movement, and her initial phase often yields unpredictable and exciting results. In the subsequent four or five layers of acrylic paint on a durable wood substrate, Vickie focuses on the study of color and how color will enhance the final image. As a result, the painting is not stiff or rigid but free-flowing, like nature itself. Finally, the artist begins to visualize and construct how the painting’s subject will interact with the beautiful layers of abstract shapes and how the painting will work as a whole. Using acrylic washes in ways that are similar to watercolor techniques, she builds up the focal areas of the painting, allowing the background to remain somewhat abstract. Vickie notes, ‘My goal in each piece is to draw the viewer in through the use of light, color, and texture. I am fascinated with trying to mimic the unique textures of living organisms, the color combinations created in nature, how forms and mass relate to one another, and how natural light refracts, reflects and illuminates.’ Detailis added at the very end after layers upon layers of shapes and color have formed the foundation of her timeless, dramatic works.

Today, Vickie’s mission to ‘change lives one painting at a time’ makes for a busy life of giving back to the community, and in her case, her ‘community’ encompasses Texas, the U.S., and far beyond. One of the projects closest to Vickie’s heart is the ongoing series of collaborative paintings she’s done with countless organizations. A collaborative typically entails Vickie designing a painting, then setting up a painting station and inviting anywhere from six to 3,000 people’all associated with the sponsoring organization’to try their hand at painting. Each person makes one or more strokes, all contributing to the finished piece. It’s a hands-on experience that enables Vickie to change people’s perceptions about art in a life-altering way. ‘People are often a little intimidated to try art, and many people I’ve worked with have worried that they’re going to ruin the painting,’ she says, ‘but then the lightbulb comes on, and I can see the awareness in their eyes. It’s amazing!’ Through these efforts, Vickie generously donates her time and talent to support agencies that help disadvantaged, disabled, and impoverished people and raise funds to support art scholarships for kids in Texas and around the world.

While her goal with the collaborative events is to raise awareness of the joy of art as a form of communication, Vickie also engages in a wide range of other outreach programs, each with its own purpose. Among other activities, she uses her platform as an artist to educate and foster community conservation action through her paintings, large public installations, and speaking engagements to audiences of all ages. For example, she thoroughly enjoys using her African wildlife photography and paintings, as well as her stories of adventures in the bush, to educate and inspire hundreds of school-aged children to care for and protect the environment. Vickie is also a donor and active and/or lifetime member of many organizations that raise funds to protect our parks, land, and animals while promoting wildlife conservation through education, such as Safari Club International, the Houston Safari Club, the Texas Wildlife Association, and the Coastal Conservation Association of Texas.

The artist has also conducted various training and economic development programs for artists in Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and in schoolwide assemblies affecting tens of thousands of teachers and students across Mexico, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Vickie has presented outreaches emphasizing the importance of goal-setting, sexual purity, saying ‘no’ to drug and alcohol abuse, and the development of moral values. Vickie has also served as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Art Judge since 2010, and is heavily involved in its annual art auction. She is currently involved with BAM! Because Art Matters, the community and education outreach arm of The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council, and she has served as a Program Director for ARTreach, a non-profit arts organization serving Katy, The Woodlands, Fort Bend & Harris counties.

Vickie’s award-winning paintings have been exhibited in both art museums and fine art galleries throughout the country and abroad. Fittingly, many of the regional and international exhibitions she has participated in have promoted wildlife conservation and endangered species and raised public consciousness of the urgent need to move towards environmental sustainability. Her paintings are included in museum, corporate, and private collections, and have been published in well-known magazines, articles, and reviews both locally and internationally. Her accurate yet stylistic paintings and award-winning photography are in demand among discriminating collectors of fine art.

Among the many accolades Vickie has received for her work, she has twice been named Artist of the Year by Safari Club International-Houston. And in three separate years, Vickie was chosen to represent District 15, The Woodlands with a hand-painted ornament for the state capitol. This prestigious designation is reserved for only a handful of premier artists who win the respect of a sophisticated constituency of art enthusiasts and wildlife conservationists.

Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects to all of this’and a true testament to Vickie’s tenacity and perseverance’is the fact that she has a disability called Essential Tremors that has progressively worsened over the years. E.T. is the opposite of Parkinson’s, causing her muscles to be overly active and sometimes hard to control when in use. It makes painting quite challenging, and she has developed her unique style of impasto impressionism over time as a way to compensate for the lack of control in her limbs. ‘When it comes to painting detail,’ she notes, ‘I have to hold my breath and pull both arms tight against my chest while bracing my painting hand.’ Despite her disability, she continues to paint. She says that it was a choice to abandon the realism she thought she should embrace and allow God to direct the path of her art. ‘I believe that my decision to persevere has given me many opportunities to encourage and inspire others to reach their full potential, rather than allowing obstacles or tragedy to overwhelm their lives.’

Vickie continues, ‘I have been painting since I was a little girl, and it has always been my desire to bring glory to the Creator of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, by capturing the majesty and wonder of His marvelous creation, especially in people and nature,’ she says. ‘I am fascinated by how God spoke into existence the myriad wild animals roaming the planet, which reflect his vast creativity and endless attention to fascinating detail. Even more so, I am amazed at how the Lord has adorned his prized creation, human beings, with priceless individuality and infinite originality. It is my great desire to reflect the Creator’s intentions for mankind to have dominion over the created order and yet be good stewards of the earth He entrusted to our care.’

Through her paintings of wildlife, landscapes, and trophy hunter portraiture, it is Vickie’s highest honor to display God’s creative genius by capturing the majesty and wonder of his creation, a calling that will continue to sustain her through the rest of her seasons. A native Texan, Vickie lives with her family in Katy, Texas.