Christina Carsley-Bess

AP Studio Art and 3D Design teacher at Saint Stephens High School in Hickory, N.C.

Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art with a concentration in art education, UNC Charlotte (2020)

Christina Carsley-Bess was a non-traditional student when she came to UNC Charlotte in 2016 after several years working in cabinetry and home design. But art had always been her lifeline, and in the Department of Art & Art History she found a caring faculty that recognized and nurtured her abilities.

“It was clear in my mind after my first year in the art program that I wanted to be like them,” she told Jim Frakes, associate professor of art history, in an interview. “I wanted to have that same impact on the next generation of artists, makers, and doers.”

In 2020, Christina was chosen by the Department of Art & Art History faculty as “Senior of the Year.”

“Christina thinks deeply about issues that should concern every artist and global citizen…human rights, social justice, the erasure of gender, racial, ethnic and other kinds of discrimination and inequity,” art education professor David Gall told Frakes.

Although still early in her career, Christina has an impressive resume, teaching AP Studio Art and 3D Design at Saint Stephen’s High School in Hickory, North Carolina, and a earning “Beginning Teacher of the Year” award in 2023. She has also worked at the UMAR Arts Center in nearby Lincolnton, providing day programming in the creative arts for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and running a gallery that displays participant works.

For the Generations exhibition in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Department of Art & Art History, Christina contributed a work from her student days, the ceramic sculpture “Blight,” which reflects moments of struggle, resilience, and release.