Hi! My name is Mary Reed. I'm an artist, writer, and arts educator.

My work and worldview is heavily influenced by my background. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee, the oldest child in a family of five children. My mom read to us for hours every night, and sent me to school with hand-drawn notes in my lunchbox (my maternal grandmother was an art teacher). When she went back to school to finish her bachelor's degree, I took over making school lunches for my younger siblings. My dad was a truck driver. My parents were from Long Island, New York. (Technically, so am I.)

My family was Catholic and not conservative, so I always had a sense that I didn't quite belong to the place I lived. I found a sense of belonging in the woods, at Girl Scouts, and as I got older, on the Internet.

(Above: a picture of my childhood home, possibly in a magical forest.)

We got our first computer when I was in 6th grade, a gift from our maternal grandfather, who worked on some of the first computers in New York in the 1960s. The first time I used the Internet at my school library, I was fascinated. I made my first website when I was 12 years old, in 1998. It was hosted on Angelfire and it was a Harry Potter fan site. I learned to code HTML from library books and Lissa Explains It All.

My mom taught me the basics of handsewing when I was 5, and gave me a sewing machine for Christmas when I was 15. I taught myself how to alter clothes (mostly band t-shirts) from tutorials I found on Livejournal, and decided I wanted to go to school for fashion.

(Above: the dress on the left was part of my senior collection.)

I have a bachelor's degree in Fashion Design from Savannah College of Art and Design. I moved to New York City a month after I graduated and spent over a decade working in the fashion industry as a technical designer. I worked in juniors, womens, and childrenswear, as well as soft toys and bags.

(Above: the only photo I could find of myself working as a tech designer.)

In 2022, I went back to school to become an art teacher. I graduated from School of Visual Arts in 2023 with a master's degree in Art Education. I am New York state certified to teach PK-12.

(Above: my elementary art classroom for the 2024-2025 school year.)