Meet Mary Besel, fine arts educator at Alpharetta High School and Chattahoochee High School. We asked Ms Besel to share her story and her work.
I’m fascinated by the stories we tell—folktales, myths, and legends—that shape how we see the world. Using clay, I bring these stories to life in a hands-on way, creating characters from my own childhood tales of spirits and monsters to make the world feel a bit more magical.
I moved to the area in 2023 to be with my boyfriend. Together we have two very cute cats, Cali and Toast, and two geckos, Munch and Lemon Pepper. If you can't tell, we are animal people.
There are many women in my life who have been a big influence on me. Of course, there is my mom, my sister, my aunt, and my grandma. All of these women helped make me into the person I am today.
There is one particular woman who stands out to me. I have always been a bigger girl and had interests and mannerisms that got me categorized as weird or a tomboy. This made me feel very disconnected from feeling feminine, which I have always wanted to feel. In fact, I had about a year in high school where all I wore were skirts because I just wanted to be associated with femininity. Well, in second grade I had a teacher, Mrs. Pelletier. I remember she was so fancy to me as a little girl. She always dressed up, did her hair and wore lots of jewelry and makeup. She was so dramatic and eccentric, she used to make us flip our hair around and she was just fun, unapologetically. She was so beautiful to me. I always remember her because even though she was an older woman, and loud, and outrageous at times (things that society typically does not associate with conventional beauty and femininity), she was such a model woman for me. She helped me see that I could be myself, whatever that was, and still be pretty and still be a woman.