Sisavanh Phouthavong-Houghton was born in Vientiane Laos in 1976 and at the age of four her family emigrated from Nong Khai refugee camp in Thailand to Winfield, KS. She earned a B.F.A (Painting) from the University of Kansas and an M.F.A. (Painting/Drawing) from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, IL. She is currently an Associate Professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, where she teaches advanced level painting courses. In 2014, she won an MTSU Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.
Mrs. Phouthavong-Houghton’s source material for research is autobiographical and stems from her personal experience and an observer of the everyday culture. She is a multimedia artist using classical and contemporary techniques and materials. Her work has been reviewed by The Wall Street International, Tennessean, and interviewed by Voices of America, and Next Door Neighbor, National Public Television. Her paintings, collages and sculptures can be seen at the following national and internationally permanent collections: American Embassy, Paramaribo, Surinam; Pinnacle Bank, Nashville, TN; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN; Museo de Collage, Mexico; The Learning Connexion, New Zealand; Juel Salon, Franklin, TN; The Verbeke Foundation, Belgium and Sweetwater
Center for the Arts, Sewickley, PA. Her painting has hung on Gwyneth Paltrow’s loft and been featured on Goop.com. She has been published in Create and Studio Visit magazine and has been recognized as a New Superstar of Southern Art by Oxford American. Her research has been funded several times by the Tennessee Arts Commission and MTSU grants. She has partnered with the Frist Center for the Visual
Arts’ Educator for Community Engagement; the Oasis Center; and CRIT, the Center for
Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee. Visit sisavanhphouthavong.com for more information.
