Collin Murphy is currently the 2004-2005 Artist in Residence for Yosemite National Park, and has participated in the Yosemite Renaissance International Exhibits for Contemporary Art 2002-2004. A resident of Berkeley, California until 2003, she has had several one-person shows of mixed media and watercolor paintings in the Bay Area. Collin has been a painter since childhood, but holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from UC Berkeley and in 1997 retired from her career as Research Cell Biologist in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco. Collin has studied with watercolorist Betty Saarni in Berkeley, abstract painter Ann Baldwin in San Rafael and Mexico, as well as with Robert Burridge at the Mendocino Art Center, Dana Prescott in Rome, Italy, and Cristina Acosta in Bend, Oregon. She now makes her home in Portland, Oregon.

"I have been a painter since childhood, but also spent decades analyzing the fascinating microscopic structure of cells and tissues. Now as a full-time artist, I am free to respond to nature's larger-scale elements in my paintings. Hours each day are spent walking outdoors, studying the effects of light on the colors and shapes of inorganic and organic forms. I often begin with representational plein air watercolors that can be the basis for more abstract or imaginary works. As a biologist, I am particularly fascinated by the underlying anatomy of landscapes. Precipices, chasms, carved rock faces and rock slides seem to me like bones, while waterfalls and cascades resemble arteries and capillaries supplying life blood to the scene. I express these ideas in my collages using paper, styrofoam and natural objects such as plant material. My paintings are in private collections in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Oregon."