Teen Drawing and Portfolio Preparation
Joan Levy Hepburn will assist teenagers to build a portfolio of artwork in multiple media, which will be photographed and recorded on a CD for applications to private schools, pre-college summer programs. and colleges. Joan also hosts admissions representatives for personal presentations and meetings, and will write letters of recommendations.
Call Joan for a consultation. (860) 663-1169
price: $50 per hour
Drawings by Joan’s students ages 7 to 17.
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Joan teaching a drawing class for the Ct Experiential Learning Center
during their field trip to Art at Murray Pond.
“She leads them on a journey about learning to see and exploring how to put that onto paper. Using charcoal and large drawing paper, students begin to notice, to wonder, to draw, and see what there is to see.”
Melinda Alcosser
director of CELC
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View of Murray Pond from the Pond House Studio.
The Murray Pond Private Nature Preserve offers a variety of landscape motifs from the cliffs and moss covered forest to the pond. You are welcome to come for the day or an extended retreat to study and create. The abundant flora and fauna, dramatic rock formations, and rejuvenating energy of this magical oasis are ingredients for a transforming experience. Painters may choose to include instruction in drawing, painting and color - or critique and guidance from Joan, or just come here to work on your own. Musicians will enjoy the acoustics and visual surroundings of the Pond House, or you may play anywhere on the grounds or in the Main House. Writers will enjoy the psychological freedom of open spaces of the house and grounds, the comfort of curling up next to the fireplace, sitting in the sunlight of the living room, hiding away in a private room, or enjoying the support of a group workshop. Ornithologists will see a variety of exciting birds. The pond, woods and peat bog offer a laboratory for Environmental Study, and a canoe is available for pond visits. Photographers will find this landscape to be an endless source of subject matter (bring your macro lens!) You can choose to have food catered, or use the professional restaurant kitchen to prepare your own meals. Design your visit to fit your needs and it will be priced accordingly. This property is also a registered Filming Location.
Call Joan to schedule a visit (860) 663-1169.
CALL JOAN if you are interested in taking group or private classes, or if you would like to come to the property to focus on your work with or without instruction at any time.
(860) 663-1169
Home Schooling at Art at Murray Pond
Art at Murray Pond provides a safe and stimulating environment for home schooling groups. Classes in drawing, painting, color, printmaking, digital photography using camera and computer, music,
accordion books, art history, designing a vegetable garden, baking, Nature study and more!
Cub Scout groups welcome, too! The scouts have studied the flora and fauna of the pond and in the woods trails, learned to track animals, made photographs of unexpected discoveries, drawn pictures and carved scrimshaw from tree fungus.
Contact Joan Levy Hepburn to schedule your group for weekly classes at Murray Pond. 860 663-1169
A NATURAL TEACHER FOR ALL - Joan Levy Hepburn shares her knowledge as a professional painter, musician and color separator when she teaches students of all ages and levels of experience. Joan has been an artist for over 50 years. She has dedicated her passion to the pursuits of painting and music, and that is evident when she teaches art with a contagious enthusiasm. Joan’s involvement in art began as a young child, so by the time she was in high school she was already a committed artist. Willem de Kooning saw her work when she was a teenager and became her mentor, and she also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design Pre- College Program, and received her B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute. In her early 20’s she developed her own strategy for making color separations of art for museums and galleries around the country, and her clients bestowed her the title of “Color Doctor”. Her work in color separation allowed her to become intimately involved with handling priceless original art of the centuries, which furthered her personal study of painting and drawing.
In addition to teaching CLASSES AND PRIVATE TUTORING at her own school called Art at Murray Pond, Joan has been a visiting artist at the Kansas City Art Institute, Choate, Hopkins, Miss Porter’s School, Woodstock Academy, Amity High School, Branford High School, and has taught classes at the Guilford Art Center, Saybrook Adult Education, Clinton Park and Recreation, Middlesex Community College, The Connecticut Association for the Gifted, and The New Haven Regional Center.
Joan has also assisted writers, art historians and museum curators with their study of particular artists.
Her work is represented by the Allan Stone Gallery in New York City, and is in the collections of The September 11 Museum, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Yale Peabody Museum, and many corporate and private collections.
ENDORSEMENTS
"I met Joan when I was in high school. I still remember that first class that I took from her: I emerged covered in charcoal and, for the first time in a long time, excited to make art. Joan’s classes showed me what art could be—and gave a much wider lens and more meaningful definition than the watered-down version I got in high school. Joan taught me to consider, see, and process the world around me in a new visual way.
I’m now studying at one of the best art and design schools in the country, and I know that I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been Joan’s student. I wouldn’t have developed a passion for art, or the ability to pursue an art education. And when the time came to apply to colleges, Joan helped me to prepare and photograph my portfolio—a powerful embodiment of what made me a unique prospective student, and something that helped me stand out in both my art school and my liberal art school applications.
I still visit Joan during school vacations, and always come away with new lessons and enlightening conversations. Thank you, Joan, for being such a dedicated teacher and inspiring mentor!"
Adria Boynton
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“Joan is the best thing to happen to my painting in twenty horrific years of struggling with color. Each sentence is ripe with meaning that if applied will make you scream with joy.”
Andrea Molinari
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“My time with Joan Levy Hepburn was certainly one that changed my life as an artist.
I only spent a summer with her before I went to college, but she redefined how I viewed my work and more importantly, my potential. She taught me that although I was inexperienced, my passion and love for art could always drive me forward. Her skill in teaching and connecting with her students is unlike any other, and now, as I study art in college, not a day goes by that I am grateful from her instruction.
The artwork that I created while learning with Joan not only prepared me for my future but also allowed me to believe in my own skill and interests in art.
Joan is also a very interesting and multifaceted individual, who always welcomed me to study new areas and take new classes. Each class was a new experience.
Now as a sophomore studying illustration, I look back with fondness on what I learned with Joan, and am grateful that I was able to study with such a professional.”
Carolyn Bull
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“I have enjoyed painting the last few years. It was an intuitive process for me since I had no formal training. Recently I began painting classes with Joan. It is beginning to open up a whole new world of color, light and approach to the subject. She is amazing in her depth of knowledge and willingness to share. I have a lot to learn but so happy I found this class.”
Derith Stumpf
