Egyptian dispatch: Feb. 25, 2013

Arda Iris Ishkhanian

(1957-2013)

Arda Iris Ishkhanian, 55, De Pere, died on February 7th in a one-vehicle accident while en route to Wadi Hitan (The Valley of the Whales) one of the world's best preserved paleontological sites near Fayoum, Egypt. She was born in Cairo, on March 19, 1957. He parents, Levon Iskhanian and Alice Tchadekjian, residents of Heliopolis, Egypt, both predeceased her in 2012. She is survived by her husband Stephen Perkins, daughter Nina Perkins and brother, Arlen Iskhanian of Sydney, Australia. 

In 1985 she received a BFA in Film/Video from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, with further Computer Graphics/Programming experience at San Francisco State University. She was awarded her Teacher Certification in 1994 from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, with further interactive multimedia studies at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1994-98. 

Arda's videos were shown around the country, her artwork was most recently exhibited at the Neville Public Museum and she was an occasional performance artist. Arda was also co-curator from 2003-2013 of the WC Gallery (De Pere).

Over the last decade Arda was an art teacher in Brown County, and more recently at the Wisconsin International School in De Pere where her classroom was filled with art from all over the world and a message about the necessity of having art in our lives.

Mother, wife, artist, art teacher, free spirit and a world citizen fluent in four languages, she will be returned to her home in San Francisco. May she go in peace.