The Myron and Carol Boyajian Fine Arts Scholarship was established in honor of Carol Boyajian, who passed away in March 2021 after a valiant nine-year fight against GIST cancer. Two $1,000.00 scholarships will be awarded in 2024 to two students of Armenian heritage, having at least one Armenian parent or grandparent.
Previous awardees are Alex Koceyan, now a student at the Detroit School of Fine Arts in Detroit, and Tatevik Kocharyan, who is in a master’s program at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.
Boyajian began her college career with a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) with academics at the University of Chicago (UoC). Graduating from high school as an awarded student artist, she was unable to afford college and considered joining the Army or Navy to gain an education later through the GI Bill. Boyajian’s high school art teacher told her to register at the Art Institute and that “things would be taken care of.” She never learned the name of her benefactor but rewarded that confidence with hard work in the arts and her academics. Boyajian was granted a full four-year scholarship to SAIC and the UoC after one semester of school. After she graduated (with high faculty honors), she and her husband Myron promised each other to find a way in the future to “pay forward” that good deed. Boyajian taught art to mostly adults for over 35 years and produced numerous commissioned fine and illustrative artworks until she became too ill to work.
“I am happy to be able to honor Carol’s memory this way, to see other young people get a start as Carol did years ago,” said Myron.
These are merit-based scholarships awarded to students who have achieved high honors in their area of graphic arts, music and the written word. Consideration will be given to the students’ artistic accomplishments, artistic talents and community involvement.
Please submit applicant information, responsive to the items noted, to Father Tavit Boyajian, Saints Joachim and Anne Armenian Apostolic Church, 12600 South Ridgeland Ave., Palos Heights, IL 60463.
Candidates will be selected by a committee of church and diocese clergymen.
For more information, call 708-388-4940 or email robert@stsjoachimandanne.ccsend.com.
Carol Boyajian (1941-2021)
Carol Boyajian (nee Gardner) passed on after a nine-year fight with GIST cancer.
On a four-year scholarship, she attended and graduated (1963, BAE w/honors) from SAIC (UoC academics). Boyajian was known for her animal, botanical, sports, equine and western art and portraits, and for teaching art.
She occasionally produced abstract works, but her favorite style was representational art. Boyajian’s work can be found in many private and corporate collections. Several pieces of her equine art were selected for the corporate offices of the National Jockey Club, while the Western States Blast Furnace & Coke Oven Association commissioned eight portraits of outgoing presidents and officers, and her commissioned portrait of the Esposito brothers is in the collection of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Locally, Boyajian was commissioned to provide portraits of the present and former pastors of the Resurrection Lutheran Church of Oak Forest, IL.
Boyajian produced many other commissioned works of original art. Notably, an animal painting was commissioned for the cover of the prestigious, peer-reviewed, internationally published journal, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-Biomembranes, August 2009. Boyajian’s painting depicted various organic molecular structures surrounding an amphibian used in medical research. The original painting is now in a collection at the Department of Biochemical Science of the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
Boyajian worked with a variety of traditional drawing and painting mediums as well as digital painting and photography. Her artistic subject matter was gathered from numerous personal interests, including portraits, sports action and animal figures. Boyajian’s artwork often tried to illuminate the interaction of nature, animals and humankind. Attesting to her wide-ranging interest and abilities, she also prepared patent drawings that helped a Chicago Heights inventor get a patent for a bicycle safety mirror, designed wooden craft pieces for a South Holland shop and produced illustrations of medical trailer interiors for a Calumet City manufacturer.
Boyajian enjoyed sports and trained vigorously to become an elite, competitive bicycle racer from her mid-thirties. Often competing against younger women in some bicycle races, she became a multi-time Illinois state champion (both road and track), and in 1984, the Veteran Women’s U.S. National Criterium Champion. She brought that same competitive fire and zeal into her work and relished challenges in virtually all media and subjects.
Boyajian was a certified Illinois art teacher (K-12) and fine artist who loved teaching. She was an adult education instructor for Chicago Vocational High School, Homewood-Flossmoor High School, the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, Rich Township Senior Services and the Tall Grass Arts Association Art School. While a member of the Tall Grass Arts Association, she exhibited her work in the yearly Tall Grass Art Fair and other TGAA special exhibits. Boyajian often expressed her love of teaching and her admiration of all her students’ work.
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My thanks to Editor Khachatourian and staff for placing the notice of the Myron & Carol Boyajian Fine Arts Scholarship in the Asbarez. Carol would be pleased to know that students will be helped along in their careers.
My best and highest regards to all,
Myron Boyajian