Viola Corley 1888-1983

Corley,Viola Carnes  (Mrs. John M. Corley). 1888-1983. Del Rio, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Alpine, Dallas. Painter, teacher, novelist, short-story writer, poet.
    Corley was born on a ranch near Milano, where she received private instruction as a child.  After her 1905 marriage, she settled on a ranch near Del Rio and traveled to San Antonio periodically to study under Eloise Polk McGill, Dawson Dawson-Watson, Jose Arpa, and Harry Anthony De Young.  During the latter part of World War II, she was art director for the United Services Organization (USO) in Del Rio.  Corley left Del Rio in 1948 to study at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D. C. After returning to Texas, she taught painting and writing in various parts of the state and painted on an extended trip to Europe.  She spent a good deal of time painting landscapes and portraits in Beaumont, Del Rio, Alpine, and Dallas.  Her works reportedly appeared in more than thirty one-woman exhibitions.  Corley died in a Corpus Christi hospital.
    Exhibitions:  Annual Texas Cotton Palace Exposition, Waco  (1930); Texas Federation of Women's Club, Denver  (1930); Southern States Art League Annual Exhibition (1935); All-West Texas Exhibition, Abilene Museum of Fine Arts (1946); Annual Texas Artist Circuit Exhibition (1954); Texas Fine Arts Association Exhibition (1957-58).
    Collections: Val Verde County Library, Del Rio.
    Affiliations: Texas Fine Arts Association.