GIFT GUIDE

B

etsy Besl exudes creativ-
ity. She just can’t help
herself. Everything she
touches turns captivating.
She’s always working on a
project, usually multiple at once.
In time for Chanukah, Besl has
created chanukiyot (Chanukah
menorahs), in a way that only
Besl can.
As a little girl growing up in
Cincinnati, she made tiny books,
about an inch square, out of piec-
es of paper that she had made
drawings on, punched holes in
then bound together. Her mother,
an expert needlepointer, taught
Besl the craft, but the child gave

the works her own mark by creat-
ing her own fanciful designs, like
caterpillars and colorful mush-
rooms. Her artwork was often
small, and always whimsical.
“I can’t remember a time
when I wasn’t doing art,
” says the
University of Michigan school of
fine arts grad and mom of two
adult daughters. When those
daughters grew a little older, Besl
went to work as a teaching artist
at Temple Israel’s Early Childhood
Center in West Bloomfield,
where her joy of creating art was
enhanced by working with chil-
dren and their families. But even
then, she thirsted for more: She

Chanukiyot crafted from found
objects help the artist create
a connection to families, the
community and Judaism from home.

DeLIGHTful

LYNNE KONSTANTIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

44 | NOVEMBER 11 • 2021

BETSY BESL

Whimsical chanukiyot
created by Betsy Besl