Emeree in her Studio c. 1930

     Berla Ione Emeree was born August 7, 1899 in Wichita, KS. Her father was Fred Boughsman, born in Benore, Tenn. and her mother was Cora May Newland Boughsman, born in Locust Grove, Ohio. Berla married William H. Emery who died in a veterans hospital after returning from WWI

     At the age of 17, she went to Philadelphia and studied art with Frank Linton and then to San Antonio, Texas and studied with Jose Arpa, Xavier Gonzales and Rolla Taylor and then she studied in Europe (England, France, Belgium, Germany & Holland).

     Emeree was always interested in art. At age 3 while on a trip with her mother to California, she was taken to an art gallery where she kept pulling her mothers hand to return to look at a painting that was of interest to her, and Berla would stand there and study the work.

     Berla Emeree began painting landscapes in her teens. Her earliest works were china painting and watercolors, winning prizes in her teens among competition with mature artists. In 1924, Berla converted a 5 passenger car into a house on wheels. Her car looked like a traveling art exhibit. On the back of the screens covering the windows, she fastened many of her pictures. She made her expenses selling paintings and trading them for gas and oil. She crossed streams, skimmed over highways and bounced through canyons. Se stayed at Prescott, Ariz. painting scenes, camping in Texas Canyon in the vicinity of Triangle T Dude Ranch. She heard about homesteaders in San Simon. Her pioneering spirit drove her to find the area. She went bumping over the wide open spaces from the road less expanse, where coyotes roam. She then discovered she was lost. A search party found her in the dreary hours just before dawn, without food and water, dehydrated and barely conscious. However, she staked her claim! She said, "I've always wanted to be a homesteader, the sound is so pioneerish and wholesome in books. You know, great strong men and fine women looking out over the plains with spiritual faces.......Well, I'm cured!!" After returning home from her long trip, she said from her traveling experience "Maybe I'll paint better, maybe I won't. At any rate, I have had the best vacation of them all".

     In 1933, bartering paintings became a way of life. She built her home and art studio on Scenic Loop Rd.  in El Paso from such bartering. Quite a magnificent accomplishment.

     Emeree taught art at an art school she established in El Paso and was a frequent exhibitor in El Paso, Dallas, Ft. Worth and in San Antonio, including exhibits in the 1927 & 1928 Edgar B. Davis competitions. She additionally exhibited in the National Gallery in Paris, France and in New Mexico, Philadelphia and Mexico.

     She was a member of the Southern States Art League, San Antonio Art League and the El Paso Art Guild.

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