IN TRIBUTE: We celebrate Ruthellen’s life as a painter, mentor, pioneer, and connection for all the students through every region and age group she touched in the short and vibrant time she shared with us. Your gift is an expression of her commitment to help and inspire others. The fund supports students whose participation and achievement marks an important step towards a more diverse, inclusive, and promising future for her school and community.
ABOUT YOUR DONATION: Each year, one aspiring artist attending Blanding’s USU campus is awarded a Ruthellen Pollan Scholarship. The award includes $600 to continue their education in support of their art education. Our goal is twofold: (1) expand the endowment so it lives in perpetuity, and (2) double the number of award-winners — first per year, and then with every academic semester. The stability and generosity of the fund would then truly match its namesake.
There you’ll be re-acquainted with Ruthellen’s boundless energy and her uncanny knack of ignoring boundaries. That disregard for limitations is evident in the pursuit of an astonishing portfolio and encouraging of her students to explore a life of unbridled discovery.
Early pen and ink, Stony Brook University, 1970
It was her love of creativity and passion for helping others explore the boundaries of their imaginations that inspired us to establish the Ruthellen Pollan Scholarship Fund at Utah State University (USU) 15 years ago. We wanted to honor our mother and her creative spirit through supporting emerging artists at the last place she taught and department she created out of a flat tire (if you don’t know that story and would like to, please use it as an excuse to give one of us a call and talk about our mom). The scholarship currently helps student artist(s) each year through a visual arts and needs-based scholarship.
The reason we are reaching out to you is to sustain her legacy. In order to exist in perpetuity, we are building an endowment of $25,000.
Currently the fund is operating at approximately 70% of our sustainability goal. This is awkward for us, but we are asking the family and friends of those who loved Ruthellen, and believe in the power of creativity and education, to help us reach that goal. We’d like to ask you to consider contributing to the Ruthellen Pollan Scholarship Fund. Your donation will make a difference in the lives of young artists and ensure our mother’s creative spirit endures.
With gratitude,
Marc, Eric, Patty, Carol, Jeremiah, Harry, Max, and Sam
Blanding Utah, January, 2004 [Left to Right]: Max, Robert, Harry, Sam, Marc, Ruthellen, Eric
Birth of an Idea
The Ruthellen Pollan Scholarship Fund
Robert McPherson is the former Dean of The College of Eastern Utah, San Juan Campus. In 2004 he discusses the original inspiration for the Ruthellen Pollan Scholarship. It is foretold by Bob as an action of faith and commitment to her original version:
Creating a program to nurture and showcase the fullest expression of Native American artistic traditions and the future painters, sculptors, animators, and artisans they inspire.
We’re reaching out, says Bob, just as Ruthellen reached out that faithful and improbable day when the seed of an Art Program was planted while a tire was being patched at a local auto repair.
