Remembering Arda: A scholarship, and a touching tribute

UW-Green Bay Summer Camps have established a memorial scholarship in the name of the late Arda Ishkhanian, longtime popular Summer Art Studio camp instructor and the wife of Lawton Gallery curator Stephen Perkins. As we told you here previously, Ishkhanian died in February of injuries sustained in a car crash in Egypt. Perkins tells us the award in her name already includes $2,800 donated by generous members of the campus community and other friends of Ishkhanian. More information about the scholarship, including how to donate.

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We’d also like to share, with permission, Perkins’ account of his travels to Egypt, both before and after the untimely passing of his wife. Perkins kept a chronological blog beginning with his trips to visit Ishkhanian in January, running through his last visit there upon learning of her death, and continuing as he, daughter Nina and others remembered her back in the United States. The blog offers an account of events, some very personal reflections, and a wonderful look at some of Ishkhanian’s art. If you reach the end of a page, click “older posts” at the bottom. We thank Steve for sharing this deeply personal and very touching reflection. http://www.egyptiandispatches.blogspot.com/