[2] Collias was stationed in England at the end of the war, at which time he had the opportunity to witness the iconic moment when many works by old masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn were returned to the walls at the National Gallery of Art in London.
Then-Idaho Statesman publisher Margaret Cobb-Ailshie gave Collias a half-page of space in each Saturday evening edition of the newspaper and an assignment to create a serial feature that echoed the format of Ripley’s Believe It or Not but took as its subject Boise and Idaho news.
In response, Collias launched "Round About the Boise Valley," a hand-drawn and hand-lettered local news feature that ran in 50 installments from October 1950 through September 1951.
Each installment was capped off with a large and unapologetically accurate portrait of a local citizen, creating an overall impression somewhere between a yearbook and a phonebook.
The feature was reader-nominated, and over its 30-year run included not only all of Idaho’s governors and Boise’s mayors, but also many prominent artists, musicians, and, to a large extent, common citizens who simply happened to be a local expert on some topic—a judge of international rock-collecting competitions, for instance.
[6] Collias' style of portraiture combines realism with a rough naturalistic touch, and the artist has referred to his technique in interviews as "scribblism.
[8] These years also saw him complete his largest work, a 10’ x 35’ mural titled "A Portrait of A Distinguished State," which served as the backdrop at National Bicentennial celebrations in Idaho during 1976.