Painter. Born in Dayton, OH in 1866. Colburn studied with William Chase, Frank Duveneck, and at the Art Institute of Chicago where she later taught. She and her daughter, Ruth Peabody, moved to Laguna Beach in 1924 and built a studio on the South Coast Highway where they lived, painted and taught. Her early works were Impressionist in style and were mainly portraits and mother-and child subjects; however, after 1927 she constantly experimented with new art idioms including Dynamic Symmetry (the juxtaposition of volumes upon space). Colburn died in Laguna Beach on May 7, 1939.

Member: Laguna Beach Art Association (Director, 1926-29); San Diego Art Guild; painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles.

Exhibited: Laguna Beach Art Association annuals; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1929; San Francisco Museum of Art Inaugural, 1935; San Diego Fine Art Gallery, 1952 ( memorial); Laguna Beach Museum, 1984.

Awards: second prize, Laguna Beach Art Association 1927, third prize, 1928, first prize, 1929 and gold medal, 1932; Llesser Farnham prize, San Diego, 1930; purchase prize, Chicago Municipal Art League, 1908.

Works held: Chicago Municipal Art League; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art; Galler of Toronto; Minnisota Instute of the Arts; Art Institute of Omaha; Laguna Beach Museum of Art.

Source: Hughes, Edan Milton. "Artists in California: 1786-1940" San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.