Born in 1906, Cooley settled in New York City, where she studied at the Arts Student League with John Sloan. Her genre paintings of women, children and the working class are in the Ashcan School tradition. While studying at the Arts Student League, she met her husband-to-be, graphic artist and children’s book author Don Freeman. Cooley co-authored several of Freeman’s books, and illustrated two of his works.

 

Cooley exhibited her works at the Society of Independent Artists as well as at the Whitney Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Cooley moved to Santa Barbara in 1958, and upon her husband’s death moved to Switzerland, where she continued to paint until her death in 1998.