This Baltimore native studied art at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn College,the Skowhegan School, and the Art Students League of New York. He worked in New York City, including at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and helped start The First Street Gallery.

In 1971, Vance began painting in the Shenandoah Valley and the Potomac Highlands of Virginia and West Virginia. He moved there for good in 1976; his family had lived in that area since 1735.

Vance paints detailed landscapes with oil on wood panels. Critics say he is as serious about his art as famous 19th-century landscape painters. His work has been shown in many museums and is part of several important art collections, including the Huntington Museum of Art and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.