Draft:South Bear School

South Bear School
South Bear School is an artist collective and art school located in Decorah, Iowa. Founded in 1970 by Dean Schwarz, who was mentored by Bauhaus potter Marguerite Wildenhain, the school emphasizes traditional methods of art-making, particularly in pottery, drawing inspiration from the European Guild Systems, the Bauhaus, and Pond Farm​.

It was named after South Bear Creek, a stream that was located next to a former hospital house in Highlandville, Iowa where the school was first established in 1970. South Bear School was relocated in 1976 in the original Aase Haugen building, a vacant 65-room nursing home originally built in 1914. Marguerite Wildenhain was a frequent visitor both there and at Luther College. In her later years, she advised new students to study first at South Bear before working with her in Pond Farm.