Night Ride Home: Inside Teal Collins’ Marin Art Oasis
Tucked into a quiet pocket of San Rafael, just beyond the road and easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there, sits a home that feels more like a hidden retreat than a residence.
At first glance, it’s central San Rafael. But the moment you step through the gate onto the property, it opens into something else entirely. A small, magical oasis. In the backyard, a grove of redwoods creates a cool, shaded escape, with a hammock strung between the trees where light filters softly through the branches. The land stretches uphill behind the house, backing up to the Sara Wan Owl and Bobcat Preserve, where visits from wildlife are part of daily life. It’s that very Marin feeling, where nature isn’t separate from home, it’s woven right into it.
It’s here that vocalist and artist Teal Collins has created a deeply personal world.
Many know her as the powerhouse voice behind The Mother Truckers, but music runs in her veins. Her father, legendary jazz disc jockey Al 'Jazzbeaux' Collins, surrounded her with music from the very beginning, something that still carries through everything she creates today.
Her connection to Marin runs deep. She grew up in Tam Valley with Mount Tamalpais always in view, a constant backdrop that still shapes how she sees the world. You leave, you go somewhere else, and then you come back and see that mountain again. It’s a feeling of being home. That feeling carries through everything she creates.
Her studio sits just beyond the house, what was once a totally dilapidated shed and is now her oasis. It’s where she disappears into the work. There isn’t a rigid plan when she starts. More often, it begins with color.
She’ll come down and think about what palette she wants to play with. Something catches her eye, a combination of tones, a mood, and she starts there. For a long time she worked in pure abstraction, rolling paint across the surface, building layers, letting things get a little wild. Then at a certain point she pauses and asks herself a question that feels very much like her.
"Who lives in here"?
That’s when the animals start to appear.
A fox curled quietly into the landscape. An owl watching from the edges. A hummingbird suspended in motion. Tigers, iguanas, pumas. They don’t feel placed so much as revealed, like they were always there waiting to come through. The paintings feel alive in that way, less composed and more discovered.
Her technique is part of what gives the work its depth. She paints primarily in acrylic, then often layers oil over the top, which she describes as buttery and smooth, allowing her to blend and move color in a different way. She’s also drawn to slower drying acrylics so she can stay in that moment a little longer. Nothing feels rushed. It’s all about staying inside the process.
What’s striking is how recently all of this began.
She started painting during the pandemic, after losing her beloved dog Ajax. It was a heartbreak that shifted something. She began with pencil drawings, following along with YouTube tutorials, then moved into pastels before eventually finding her way to acrylic and oil. In just a few years, the work has evolved quickly, moving from more careful and controlled to something looser, more expressive, more her.
She’ll tell you she just puts time in down there, but it’s clearly more than that.
Music is always present. Not in the background, but woven into the work itself. She often paints while listening to a single song on repeat. At one point she laughed and said she can get “like a monkey with a peanut” about a song, playing it over and over for an hour or more, letting it shape the rhythm and feeling of whatever she’s working on.
That connection to music is not just in the studio. It’s something she has lived.
She talked about performing at Sound Summit on Mount Tam, singing outdoors with the sky wide open and hawks circling overhead. Moments like that stay with you. She’s played that stage with both The Mother Truckers and her own band, opening for Tedeschi Trucks Band and Bob Weir. You can feel those experiences echoed in her work, that same sense of openness, movement, and connection to place.
One painting of Mount Tam was created entirely while listening to Joni Mitchell’s Night Ride Home on repeat. You can almost feel it when you look at the piece, the pacing, the atmosphere, the sense of being carried through it.
There’s also a strong rock and roll thread running through everything she does. The music she grew up on lives inside the work. You can see it in the color, in the movement, in the way certain pieces lean into something more electric and a little bit wild.
She’s created a series that feels like a nod to those old blacklight, crushed velvet paintings, glowing neon tones, slightly surreal, a little nostalgic but not dated. In her hands, it becomes something entirely her own. The animals seem to emerge out of color and light, almost vibrating on the canvas.
It’s bold without being heavy. Playful without losing depth.
That same spirit carries into how she titles her work. There’s often a cleverness to it, a turn of phrase, a little wink that lets you know not to take things too seriously. The work is thoughtful, but it’s never pretentious. It feels accessible, open, inviting.
Spending time with her, it becomes clear that what you see in the paintings is exactly who she is. Warm, grounded, a little bit magical, completely down to earth. The kind of person who makes you feel like you’ve known her forever. Teal is an animal spirit whisperer, a real life rock n' roll snow white.
Inside the house, that creative life continues. The walls are filled with art, including a striking portrait of her and her husband, Josh Zee, painted in a Día de los Muertos style by artist Charlie Terrell, bold and full of personality. Josh is a well known guitarist, and together they’ve built a life centered around music and creativity, both teaching out of their home.
They’re also now partnering with The Aragon Foundation, helping bring access to music, art, and dance education to youth across Marin.
This year marks her first time participating in Marin Open Studios, taking place May 2, 3, 8 & 9—where she’ll be presenting alongside fellow artist Shaney Fago. Visitors can explore her work as part of the county-wide, self-guided tour, with studio locations and details available through the official Marin Open Studios guide. Like many of the artists on the tour, her exact location will be listed there, but arriving feels a bit like stepping into a musical, artistic portal tucked into a quiet pocket of San Rafael and just beyond the road into her own little oasis.
And if you want to hear her live, save the date. On Sunday, April 12, Teal will be performing at Sweetwater Music Hall with her band, Teal’s After Party, for a free, all-ages show from 6 to 8 PM. It’s a nine-piece dance band with a full horn section, two vocalists, and a setlist that moves from ’60s and ’70s classics through today. The kind of night where the room fills up quickly and no one stays in their seat for long.
She’s also donated two pieces to The Aragon Foundation’s upcoming gala, Bridging Creative Possibilities, on May 9 in San Francisco in partnership with DrawBridge. One piece, Flicker, carries her signature sense of movement and energy. The other, her Mount Tam painting created to the rhythm of Night Ride Home, feels especially personal, a reflection of the place that has shaped her since she was young.
Proceeds from the evening will support The Aragon Foundation’s MADE program, providing access to music, art, and dance education for youth across Marin County. It’s a chance to not only experience the work, but to take part in it. Come make a bid on one of her pieces and help open the door for the next generation of artists. Tickets are available on Luma.
If you visit her during Marin Open Studios, you’ll understand it right away. The same artist who paints animals as if they’re companions, who layers music into color, who draws from the land just beyond her backyard, is also someone deeply connected to her community.
It all feels part of the same world.
A tucked away studio. A hillside alive with nature. A voice that became a painter. And a reminder that in Marin, creativity doesn’t sit apart from life. It grows right out of it.
Check out more of her work here, you’ll be glad you did!
Written by: Carrie Souza carrie@thearagonfoundation.com