Teryl Viner (1938 – 2023)
Former SWS member, Teryl Viner, passed away peacefully on March 26, 2023 in Vero Beach, Florida. She was born in Coronado, California into a Navy family, Teryl attended 12 schools before graduating from high school in Falls Church, Virginia. After high school she moved to Austin, Texas where she attended The University of Texas as a Physics and Math major. This is where she met her first husband and the father of her two children, Don Speers.
After college, they moved to Seattle where she began decorating and painting window displays for local shops. This led her to take art classes and focused her efforts on developing her artistic talents, which would remain her professional passion for the next five decades.
For 20 years Teryl lived in Houston where she raised her children and focused on her professional art career. During this period, she studied under renowned artists, Chen Chi, Millard Sheets, Edgar Whitney, Carl Molno and Glen Bradshaw. She opened her Teryl Townsend Gallery on Nantucket Island in 1977 and operated it until 1988.
Teryl’s professional career included multiple solo exhibitions in Nantucket, New York, Palm Beach and Houston. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts in Vero Beach. She has received many accolades in her career, including The Century Award from the Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Society, First Place Award for the Spectrum Exhibition from the Southwestern Watercolor Society and the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Also, one of Teryl’s most cherished traditions for over 30 years was designing her personalized Christmas Cards. A combination of inspirational passages and prints of her own favorite works, these were eagerly anticipated and enjoyed by friends and family. She was a devout Christian and studied at the School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of The South. She has been a member of the Community Church of Vero Beach for over 20 years. She has served as a Deacon and a member of the Community Church’s Board of Music and Fine Arts.
In 2022 the church named the Music and Fine Arts Ministry the “Viner Series for the Visual Arts” in honor and love for Teryl. This provides local artists the opportunity to show case their talents. Teryl’s other interests included golf, entertaining and most importantly her family. Teryl is preceded in death by her parents and husband, Arthur Viner. She is survived by her children and grandchildren.