Cathleen Murphy

January 6, 1945 - January 3, 2022

Cathleen (Cath) Murphy died this week after a series of illnesses. She will be missed. Born in Denver, she graduated from University of Northern Colorado and taught art in Moffat and Jefferson County schools receiving an award as the Teacher of the Year award for Moffat County High School in 1969.

As talented as Cath was as a teacher she was first an artist and her work reflected her deep love of nature and the western landforms. Her trips throughout the West with her geologist husband, Jack Murphy were inspirational. Her use of colored pencil was both meticulous and expressive of the rich patterns of the strata of the land.

Cath was an early proponent of women artists and she was one of the organizers ( with Fran Metzger, and Cecille Sirotkin) of the landmark Colorado Women in the Arts program in May 1979. Begun as an exhibit of women artists in Colorado at the Arvada Center the program eventually included over 75 programs at 7 colleges and universities, 3 museums and more than 25 galleries. The extraordinary depth of the programs included Native American Women of the Southwest at the Sangre de Cristo Center in Pueblo to an exhibit of handicapped women artists at Colorado State Judicial Center in Denver. Cath’s ability to organize and inspire groups and artists was powerful and resulted in a truly landmark event recognizing the range of talent of women artists throughout the state.

Cath also worked as registrar of the Aspen Art Museum as well as various capacities at the Denver Art Museum. She served as registrar and art inventory consultant at Art Management and Planning. Her art is in many private and corporate collections as well as the Denver Public Library. She was an active member of Front Range, Women in the Visual Arts for many years. Her artwork was included in many group exhibitions including the Arvada Center, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and the Roswell Museum. In 1998 she was selected as Artist In Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park. One of her drawings is in the collection of the National Park Service.