Dale and Brin Baucum

As seasoned full-time artists, let’s look back and talk about how we started. Every generation brings something fresh to the banquet of art. In the early 70s our boundless enthusiasm pushed us into workshops with Paul Soldner, John Glick, Toshiko Takaezu, and Michael Cardew. It would be hard to find a better group of clay artists. The information and experience they shared, were a bit like having seeds tossed at your soul… these ideas and traditions took root and served as a map on our own journey of becoming master craftsmen. Peter Sohngen was the clay professor at the Memphis Academy of Arts. Studying under Peter was the equivalent of earning an M.F.A. in Ceramics, on a par with earning that degree from The School of Ceramics in Alfred, New York. I (Dale) was very lucky to have been a student with Sohngen.
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The next important school of thought was delivered to Brin. She earned a B.F.A. in Photography from Murray Riss; here again more was given than meets the eye. Murray studied with Harry Callahan, and The Rhode Island School of Design. Photography was taught with intelligent passion. The balance of black and white plus the purity of light as it wraps around and fills space has served Brin well. She made the transition to clay, bringing a very unique folder of tools. Light and dark patterns adorn her clay pots with the vision, only a photographer would ever think of.
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The two of us met in art school, and our very dissimilar-similar abilities led to a path that we call, Two Dancing As One. We plunged head first into making a living with our art, with our hands, with our complete inner core. Brin’s path as a clay artist is most interesting, progressing from just mixing glazes, kiln loading, and helping with my pots to completely absorbing the information that I had developed as a potter and expressing those ideas in a way that became completely her song or path. We are more than two equal partners. Our work feeds off of each other’s energy and dreams.
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Together we know that the greatest teacher of Art is Nature! Also our core belief is; Art Is Love! After many years of work and learning we have become – Two Dancing As One! In our studio one can find three types of clay vessels, the pots that Brin makes, the pots that Dale makes and the pots we work on together. Even for the two of us, it is hard to know who made what. It is of no importance to us. The fact that we have fashioned our studio, Baucum Pottery and from that spot, two artists have danced with nature is what it is. So as poet Robert Frost wrote;’’We dance ‘round in a ring and suppose. But in the center the secret knows.”