Biography

Lê Tường-Phi (Sophie) grew up in Alief, Texas, a vibrant immigrant community on the southwest side of Houston. She began her creative career as a writer, producing both journalistic stories for the Kerronicle, an award-winning student publication, and short fiction that appeared in literary magazines such as TeenInk, Skipping Stones, and Cicada. Her work drew not only on her experiences as a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, but also her volunteer work as an ESL and Vietnamese teacher trying to bridge the language barrier between diasporic generations—perspectives which continue to inform her art today.

After graduating with two Bachelor of Arts degrees (economics, environmental sustainability) and a new language (Arabic) from the University of Oklahoma, Le briefly worked as a GIS cartographer in Tulsa, Oklahoma before moving home to Houston in 2019 to become a data integrator and eventually a software engineer. In 2022, she transitioned from a mainly digital art practice to working with more traditional media, including acrylic and oil painting, embossed metal, and fiber. Le’s current specialties include live traditional portraiture, plein air landscapes, and hand embroidery, most of which she does entirely freehand.

In 2023, Le became a member of the Visual Arts Alliance (VAA) and began exhibiting in curated shows at Hardy and Nance Studios in Houston, Texas. Recently, her work has appeared in group exhibitions mounted by the VAA, the Portrait Society of America, and the Texas chapter of the Women’s Caucus of Art (WCA). She is also a two-time exhibitor in Drawn From Life, a group exhibition showcasing works created in or inspired by the weekly life-drawing sessions at Houston’s Archway Gallery.

Artist Statement

I make art to create opportunities for empathy. Through immersive figurative artwork backed by both extensive research and my own lived experience as a queer woman of color, I tell stories from the perspectives of the often-overlooked, be they people (women, immigrants, the queer community, etc.) mainly acknowledged in history for their struggles, or ordinary objects whose ubiquity or unsightliness make them mundane. By bringing these taken-for-granted realities to the fore and juxtaposing them against conventional cultural expectations—about body image, historicity, and femininity in art, among other things—I invite my audience to question those expectations and to celebrate the worth inherent in all things and people.

Artist CV

  • July 5 - 31, 2025
    Archway Gallery 17th Annual Juried Exhibition [Honorable Mention]
    Archway Gallery, Houston, TX
    Juried by Rick Lowe

    March 1 - May 1, 2025
    A Tribute to Water
    Mexican Cultural Institute, San Antonio, TX
    Juried by Paola Núñez Solorio
    Mounted by the Consulate General of Mexico and the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) - Texas chapter

    September 19, 2024 - October 29, 2024
    ARBOREA
    Cloister Gallery (Christ Church Cathedral), Houston, TX
    Juried by Megan Randall
    Mounted by the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) - Texas chapter

    July 8 - 27, 2024
    Visual Arts Alliance (VAA) 40th Juried Membership Exhibition
    Redbud Arts Center, Houston, TX
    Juried by Tanja Peterson

    January 14 - March 24, 2024
    Who are the Least of These?
    Webster Presbyterian Sanctuary for the Arts, Webster, TX

    December 1, 2023
    2nd Annual ROAR: The Art of Cats [Overall Honorable Mention]
    Wild Heart Gallery, Coachella Valley, CA
    Juried by Sarah Soward, Sharon Eisley, and Ashli Kingfisher

    October 6 - December 16, 2023
    63 & 93: Generations in Conversation
    Meadows Gallery (Greater Denton Arts Council), Denton, TX
    Juried by Georgina Ngozi, Colby Parsons, Jenny Bates, and Caitlin Spencer

    August 25 - September 21, 2023
    The Upcycle Art Challenge
    Art League of Baytown, Baytown, TX
    Juried by Ron Gordon

    September 16, 2023
    Viet Cultural Fest 2023 Art Competition [1st Place (19+ Age Bracket)]
    Vietnamese Cultural & Science Association (VCSA), Houston, TX

  • August 3, 2025 - September 5, 2025
    Drawn From Life II —     Archway Gallery, Houston, TX
    Curated by Trudy Askew and Liz Conces Spencer

    May 18, 2025 - August 2025
    FACE OFF 2025     — Lewisville Grand Theater, Lewisville, TX
    Mounted by the Visual Art League of Lewisville

    August 3, 2024 - September 5, 2024
    Drawn From Life     — Archway Gallery, Houston, TX
    Curated by Trudy Askew, Maryam Lavaf, and Liz Conces Spencer

    January 20, 2024
    10” x 10” Art Show 2024 — Hardy & Nance Studios, Houston, TX

    December 6, 2023 - January 6, 2024
    Deck the Walls     — Ardest Gallery, The Woodlands, TX

    July 10-31, 2023
    Peace Love Art (3rd Annual Charity Showcase & Sale) — Arts + Causes

    June 9, 2023
    Wish Upon a Star — Insomnia Gallery, Houston, TX

    May 20, 2023
    Plantasia — Hardy & Nance Studios, Houston, TX

  • April 2024
    Catching Chen Qing Ling: The Untamed and Adaptation, Production, and Reception in Transcultural Contexts, ed. Yue (Cathy) Wang & Maria Albierto, published by Peter Lang
    Contributed book chapter: ‘Across the Distance, Resonating’: Charting the Rise of Mo Dao Zu Shi and Chen Qing Ling Fanfiction in Non-Sinophone Spheres

    Summer 2014
    Davidson Fellow — Davidson Institute
    Literature portfolio: Shadow and Song: Revitalizing the Expatriate Vietnamese Identity Through Mythological Media

    Spring 2014
    National Silver Medalist (Senior Portfolio) — Scholastic Art & Writing Awards