Karen Baucom
Background
Karen is thrilled to have found Willow Oak Center for Arts and Learning and is grateful to be a part of this stellar team as she adds a new theater program to the offerings! She has enjoyed the arts for as long as she can remember. Her early memories include pretending, drawing, and sewing with her mother and sculpting clay with her grandmother. Her teen years were filled with acting, producing art, and singing. She graduated from Lipscomb University with a BA in art and a minor in marketing, then worked with several advertising, public relations, and book publishing companies. There she designed books, logos, ads, magazines, billboards, and catalogs and oversaw marketing campaigns for BNA, DHS, banks, churches, and many authors and their books.
While her children were young, she taught many art classes in schools, holding yearly art shows for the students to showcase their work. She held summer art camps at Camp Sycamore Creek and has been commissioned to complete several art pieces as well as wall murals. She anticipates taking classes at Willow Oak to increase her knowledge and ability. Her favorite part of teaching art is when a student comes in thinking they have zero talent but through artistic exploration leaves feeling joy and pride in their artistic ability.
While fine arts remain a big part of her life, she loves the theater and began a drama program where her children attended school. Initially, she co-directed a large cast of Peter Pan, and LOVED it! Watching all of the hard work unfold into a fantastic performance, and seeing the students learn and grow so drastically throughout the process, was exhilarating. Teaching art and theater to first graders through seniors over the past sixteen years, she has been honored to inspire hundreds of young people to find the confidence and skills required to perform well in the classroom, and on the stage. She has thoroughly enjoyed directing many plays such as Help Us, Mr. Holmes!, Cinderella, Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies! (a musical), The Enchanted Bookshop, The Jungle Book, The Little Princess, Cheaper by the Dozen, Heidi, and Stone Soup (a musical), and has written many plays adapted from children’s books such as Rainbow Fish, Dazzle, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Quarreling Book, and The Hundred Dresses. Each play has unique characteristics. The Jungle Book characters were in full face-paint and costume, dashing around like animals in the jungle. Help Us, Mr. Holmes! was performed in the Gaslight Theater in Dickson, with tea and cookies served on china during intermission. These are memories one never forgets! Karen calls her theater class “Acting Up!”, because it cheerfully expresses her desire to maintain high production standards, inspire students to keep looking up and moving forward with zeal and confidence, while nurturing their innate creativity in a fun and engaging environment.
Being a director requires using many creative skills to bring her vision of a play to life. She loves casting the roles, blocking the movements, and dreaming up, finding, and creating sets, props, and costumes. She loves pushing each student to step outside of their normal boundaries to become, for a time, someone else — to dig deep within, overcome obstacles, and reach their highest level of ability. She loves the days before the performance when the students have become close friends, encourage each other, and work hard. But most of all, she loves the moment at the end of a production when the actor’s own level of excellence surprises them and they smile as they bow for the audience with gratefulness and confidence. That moment when the shy child is brave, and the bold child is patiently cooperating, all of the hard work has truly been worth the effort.
Karen has been married to her best friend, Glenn, for eons. They have been blessed with four terrific (now grown) kids, two lovely daughters-in-law, and two super fun grandchildren. She led children’s church and the singing during VBS for several years, then their family moved to Kentucky to work with Barefoot Republic Camp for three years where she performed every task imaginable including teaching drama, cooking for large groups, and giving horse-riding lessons. She also enjoyed a nine-week summer work mission trip in Croatia assisting families after the war. Now in her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking in the woods, drawing, painting, taking pictures, traveling, reading, sewing, scrapbooking, cooking, and of course playing with her grandkids.
Creativity is oozing out of every room at Willow Oak. With such a vast array of artistic pursuits available, you’re sure to find your place. Like me, you’ll feel like you’ve come home.
