Greenwich House Pottery Director Caitlin Brown:  A New Porosity

June 23, 2025

Greenwich House Pottery Director Caitlin Brown: 

A New Porosity

 

History is a record of evolution, the continual movement forward of the activities of humankind.  Occasionally, those gradual changes coalesce into a major paradigm shift, spurring a revolutionary change that reverberates throughout all aspects of human life.  Out of this change come new ideas, new communities, and new institutions.  Greenwich House, in New York City’s Greenwich Village, was born out of the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 20^th century and continues to adapt to meet the needs of its community as a new century and a new revolution challenge the well-being and happiness of today’s populaces.  Helping to meet these needs is Greenwich House Pottery’s new Director, Caitlin Brown, who comes to Greenwich House from New York State College of Ceramics and Performing Arts at Alfred University. 

 

Brown, a figure sculptor, comes to Greenwich House with administrative and teaching experience at several universities and centers.  “Clay is my greatest teacher,” she explains.  There is potential there for everyone.  There are only a few rules – time and gravity.  It is a point of connection; it is a record of how a hand makes a mark.”  She points out that the forms that are created evoke giving and receiving, especially in bowls, cups, and plates.  She goes on, “We are a population starving for the hand made.  A hand-made piece says, ‘We are here.’  This personal expression lends itself toward community building.  “As ceramic artists,” she says, “we have to share space.  We are almost forced into community, sharing studios, ideas, and resources. This is the heart of my work, and it aligns with my belief that creativity flourishes when we embrace each other’s stories."

 

Brown is intrigued by community and how people communicate.  “I am an active maker,” she explains, “but over and over, I have found myself in administrative roles, advocating on behalf of my community.  In these roles, I’ve come to appreciate the unique creativity involved in organizational leadership. Through these experiences, I’ve learned that when communication within a community breaks down, the entire system suffers. My role as an advocate and connector will focus on ensuring that communication flows smoothly, both within the Pottery and across the wider Greenwich House community.” 

 

Brown has come to embrace her role in administrative positions, seeing that this redirection of energy is a different kind of creativity.  At the 2013 NCECA Conference, Brown was moved by Theaster Gates’s keynote in which he asked, “Do you want to make the thing, or do you want to make the thing that makes the thing?”  Her focus on support for arts communities was fortified just after she completed graduate studies, during the 2008 recession.  “We had to figure out what to do.  Academic positions were disappearing and many of my generation of graduates turned to arts administration,” she says.  “Ben Carter [a potter, educator, and podcast host] stands as a prototype for resiliency and care for the community.”   She says that the stressors of the 21^st century are changing the paradigm and demanding that artists redirect some focus to the practical details of what they need to do to survive in a capitalist space.

 

The 2020 pandemic and the digital revolution that preceded it are seismic forces that are transforming our world in the same way that the Industrial Revolution disrupted American cities a century ago.  The Settlement House movement in New York City, conceived and birthed by caring individuals and communities, sought to meet the comprehensive needs of people struggling with inadequate housing, poor health, and a bleak outlook for the future.  When Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch founded Greenwich House in 1902, she and her trustees sought to improve the living conditions of the large immigrant populations that flooded the city.  Almost from the beginning, the arts were central in meeting this need.  Instruction in pottery was an early enrichment program that offered practical instruction in fabrication, giving clients a marketable skill.  Over its 120-year history, Greenwich House has responded to changing needs brought about by the Depression, two World Wars, the AIDS pandemic, and an aging population. 

 

 

Now, as a new century uncovers new needs, Greenwich House is poised to respond.  Brown joins several other new department heads as the organization redefines its programs and leadership.  An extensive building project is underway, and the pottery program has expanded to a second space.  Brown sees this as a prime time to re-focus, emphasizing teamwork and community as the first line of attention.  Brown explains that a strong community is key to organizational success:  "As I step into this role, I have been met by a rich community of makers. I see a unique opportunity to deepen those ties – not just as artists but as members of a vibrant, collaborative community. I want to emphasize community as the foundation for everything we do. In addition to fostering creative expression, I envision the Pottery as a place where we can also embrace our roots in practical skill-building, just as it was in the early days. This is an exciting time to refocus our efforts on empowering our community through new learning opportunities and ensuring that everyone, whether new or seasoned, feels welcomed and valued."

Greenwich’s list of programs continues to grow, with Music, Pottery, Nursery School, Health and Human Services, Older Adult Network, After School Programs, and health services clinics. Brown wants to see all these arms unite in a common community, the kind of community that she has seen and known through clay.  Critical to this goal, says Brown, is the concept of porosity.  “We must welcome new learners, new clients, with a sense of awe and wonder, an excitement for new encounters.  We need to find places where we can be more porous, and that means learning about our community and broadening it.”  One way the organization might achieve this is through a return to its origins in practical skills training.  Brown says, “I’d love to lean into our roots as a ‘pottery’, through our fabrication program, to take this opportunity to revisit work force development.”

 

Brown says, “The Pottery is cherished at Greenwich House and is a critical piece of the mission of the organization.”  She intrinsically understands the wealth of gifts clay has to offer through its malleability, its porosity, its ability to make connections and build community.  “Clay,” she says, “has taken me along an incredible and beautiful road.”  Under her leadership, Greenwich House Pottery will surely join her on that road to new and exciting places.

 

Learn more at www.greenwichhouse.org

 

Select photos by Chasi Annexy