Judith Gahn Murphy: Artist in Residence at Zinn Preserve
October 4, 2026 | Topics: featured artist
The Natural Realm presents Judith Gahn Murphy, who is among 12 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, now in its seventh year. ARTservancy is a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Restoring Lands Land Trust, Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.
Reflections from the Artist
The Zinn Preserve is 187 acres of wild, untouched wetland where land and water completely blur together. There are no traditional hiking trails here—just a single, weathered wooden boardwalk that cuts through the dense reeds and ends at a solitary pier overlooking Beck Lake.
As an artist who has always been drawn to water as the ultimate symbol of life and movement, I find this unique landscape incredibly inspiring. Instead of feeling limited by having only one path to walk, I find freedom in that constraint. When you can’t roam everywhere your eyes stop searching the far horizon and start looking deeper into what is right in front of you. The boardwalk acts like a natural viewfinder, forcing me to slow down and focus on the tiny shifts in light, atmosphere, and color.
Through photography, I’ve been documenting how quickly this ecosystem changes. It’s almost breathless how fast the landscape reinvents itself, shifting its colors and mood from one moment to the next. Back in the studio, these photographs become the emotional blueprints for my work. Using translucent watercolor, I translate those captured moments into a new series of paintings, aiming to catch the fleeting, ever-changing wonder of this fragile wilderness.
Gallery
Bio
As a visual artist, my work is inherently dynamic, evolving alongside my life and experiences. I utilize organic found materials to create intricate “still life portraits” that serve as multi-layered narratives of my personal history. Driven by a fascination with the concept of time, my paintings confront and explore our universal struggle against its rigid structures and limitations.
I have a BS in Art from the University of Wisconsin Madison. I am a lifelong learner of art history and painting, taking many workshops and classes to feed my mind. I have paintings in many Wisconsin businesses including Northwestern Mutual and Aurora Healthcare. I maintain a studio in the third ward.
Website: judithgahnmurphy.com
More information about Zinn Preserve is on our Find-a-Park page.
Related stories:
Emily Verbeten: Artist in Residence at Zinn Preserve (2020)
Angela Johnson and Justin Bitner: Artists in Residence at Zinn Preserve (2021)
Ashley Lusietto: Artist in Residence at Zinn Preserve (2023)
This residency is sponsored by Restoring Lands. Additional ARTservancy artists in residence at other sites can be found here.
This is the latest in our series of featured artists, which is intended to showcase the work of photographers, artists, writers and other creative individuals in our community whose subjects or themes relate in some broad sense to nature, urban nature, people in nature, etc. To see a list of previously featured artists, click here. The work of the 2024-2025 ARTservancy artists in residence is currently being exhibited monthly at Gallery 224. To meet the other ARTservancy artists in residence, click here and then use the drop-down menu.
All images courtesy of the artist, except as noted. The featured photo at the top of Judith at Zinn Preserve is by Eddee Daniel. Restoring Lands is a project partner of A Wealth of Nature.
The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a project of Preserve Our Parks.
About Preserve Our Parks
Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces. Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine.
For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces. More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.