The Arnell Lewis Land Art Scholarship at MICA supports female students interested in general fine arts, painting, ceramics, drawing, illustration and sculpture from the states of Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. William Everett and Arnell Lewis Land have long been avid supporters of the arts and higher education. Dr. Land, who died in 2002, was a chemist and chemical engineer who worked primarily with the U.S. Navy, where he was director of explosives research and development and served as chairman of the Ammunition and High Explosives Panel.

Arnell Lewis Land grew up in the 1920s in Brunswick, Georgia, a coastal town midway between Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. Although her natural talent in drawing and painting was clear early in her life, she was never able to study art formally. Yet she lived the life of an artist, painting watercolors and oils at the home she shared with her husband, William Everett Land.

In 2006, Mrs. Land asked her tax advisor to identify an outstanding art college in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., region that she could support in her estate plans. She did not know of MICA, but after reviewing artwork by MICA students and learning about the College's curriculum, she quickly surmised that it was "one of the best art colleges." Mrs. Land worked with MI CA to create a scholarship endowment to be funded by her estate, which would increase access for young, Southern women to the kind of education and training she was never able to enjoy.

Through annual gifts, Mrs. land made scholarships at the College an immediate reality.   In 2007, she had the opportunity to meet with scholarship recipient Dominique Hellgeth.  The two artists spent a pleasant visit (pictured above) exchanging thoughts on painting techniques and materials, and talking about the many possibilities open to young women in art today.

Arnell's friends at the College were deeply saddened when Arnell passed away on July 2, 2009, yet her memory lives on through the remarkable commitment she showed young artists such as Dominique, ensuring that many generations of women artists will have access to all that a MICA education offers.