Since 2000, Del Ray Artisans (DRA) has awarded the Ted Eichers Memorial Art Scholarship to an Alexandria City High School graduating senior who is attending college to continue their art education. The scholarship began as a $600 award, raised to $1000 in 2009, and raised to $2000 in 2022.
Scholarship recipients are selected by a committee appointed by The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria and based on the criteria set by DRA. The student must have a B average, show extraordinary potential in art and be planning to major in an art-related field.
The scholarship is named for Ted Eichers, a DRA member who passed away in 1997, whose art and volunteerism exemplified the spirit of DRA. Ted grew up on a Minnesota farm, earned his Masters Degree in economics at the University of Minnesota, served in the military and at the US Department of Agriculture. Ted studied art at Northern Virginia Community College after he retired. He created intricate scenes with wood veneers that he shared, along with his companionship, with nursing home residents, jail inmates, and at-risk youth in Alexandria.
Ted’s wife, Alice, says, “The choice to study any graphic art form is a huge leap of faith in your talent. I think far more than the small monetary stipend, being selected for the scholarship is an affirmation of that choice.”
The past awardees are Daniel Krahn (2000), Brian McCarthy (2001), Kimberley Burke (2002), Caroline Gullickson (2003), Michaela Murphy (2004), Claire Schoen (2005), Keriann Cassidy (2006), Thomas Carroll (2007), Olivia T. Morrow (2008), Isabel Pollack (2009), Sloane Siegel (2010), Lauren Jennings (2011), Haley Harrington (2012), Amanda Ryan (2013), Khalil Celestine (2014), Jahed Nazari (2015), Isaiah Wilkerson (2016), Samuel Schneider (2017), Emma Goeas (2018), Phoebe Tomsu and Will Jones (2019 – 2 scholarships), Iris Castro (2020), Katie Rose Malone (2021), and Kiran Jora Pippin-Mathur (2022).
Each year the scholarship recipient is presented with the scholarship by The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria at their awards night and given a one-year Del Ray Artisans membership. Keriann Cassidy, who is studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, says, “Supplies can be very expensive so having the scholarship helped me with buying my textbooks, as well as numerous supplies that I constantly use. Though I haven’t followed the fine arts path, I believe that fashion design is a way for me to express myself artistically and the Ted Eichers Scholarship has helped me make my dreams for my future come true.”
The scholarship is funded through donations earmarked for the (Ted Eichers) scholarship fund and interest on DRA accounts over the years. The ultimate goal is to fund the scholarship entirely by donations.
Tax-deductible contributions to DRA’s Ted Eichers Memorial Art Scholarship Fund are welcome at any time.
To make a donation online, select the donate button:
To make a donation by mail, complete the Donation Form (PDF) and mail it to the gallery:
Del Ray Artisans
Colasanto Center
2704 Mount Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301-1124