Evelyn Leavens

Evelyn Leavens

AGE: 88 • Red Bank

Evelyn Leavens, 88, of Red Bank, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Evelyn was a lifelong resident of Red Bank. She is predeceased by her parents, Eric Leavens and Lillian Rathbun. Evelyn was an accomplished painter all of her life and taught art instruction in her home studio for over 45 years, to generations of children and young adults. Many of these students became lifelong friends. Evelyn graduated from Red Bank Regional High School in 1943 and was inducted into its distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2004.

A stalwart of the Monmouth County art community and a respected artist throughout the country, Evelyn was primarily a self-taught painter. She attended the Vermont Studio Center in 1987 where she studied with Malcolm Morley, Archie Rand and Neil Welliver. Evelyn's first solo show was in 1952 at the Old Mill Gallery, Tinton Falls, known then for the introduction of Alice Neel and Martha Graham. In 1958, a book of drawings "Boswells' Life of Boswell" by Leavens was published by Simon and Schuster, it was enormously successful and became number two on the New York Times childrens' best seller that year. Evelyn received two fellowships from N.J. State Council of the Arts and was included in the 1977 N.J. Arts Council biennial at the Trenton State Museum. Her work has shown, notably, at City without Walls, Aljira, Tweeds, Summit Art Center and the Morris State Museum. A retrospective of her paintings entitled "The Painting World of Evelyn Leavens" was held to great acclaim in 2010 at the Monmouth Museum of Brookdale College in Lincroft.

Evelyn was a master of multiple mediums from oil and acrylic to ink to pastel to watercolor. Evelyn demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent, her paintings and sketches span a wide range of technique from realism to non-objective. Evelyn will be remembered for her amazing sense of humor which is evident in many of her compositions. Evelyn enjoyed life and made the most of it. Evelyn said that creating art was the only thing she ever wanted to do. Please visit www.evelynleavens.com to view a collection of Evelyn's Artworks.

A visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 7, 2013 at the John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Ave., Red Bank. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to The Guild of Creative Art, 620 Broad St., Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.