Vivian Spencer is a native of Pensacola and regionally known as an artist, curator, lecturer, and photography instructor. She holds an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, where she was a Graduate Art Fellow. Spencer has exhibited her photographs extensively and her work is represented in many public and private collections, including the Pensacola Museum of Art, The Cinco Banderas, the West Florida Regional Library, and the collection of the City of Hagiwara, Japan.
Awards include visiting artists to the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, The Ars Longa, Vita Brevis, artist of the year award and Edna Rivers Excellence in Teaching award. Additionally, her work has been published in Contemporary Photographers, Ilford Corporation, Florida History, and Art Magazine, Florida Division of Historical Resources, and several one-person and group exhibition catalogs.
Most recently Spencer was the Director of the Anna Lamar Switzer Gallery and the Charles W. Lamar Studio, Pensacola State College, where she curated a combination of regional and national exhibitions, published catalogs, and arranged for visiting artist, workshops, and lectures.
