Art From the Inside
By Ryan Leighton, Communications Director | Maine Arts Commission
It begins with a fifty-pound box of clay resting on the pavement outside the walls of a correctional center.
It’s a cold, blustery winter morning, and teaching artist Daisy Hutt has just received security clearance to carry that box through a series of locked doors at the Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center in Windham. She hoists it without hesitation, moving with a lightness that makes the weight seem almost incidental.
This is the first day of a new handbuilding with clay class, and Daisy carries herself with a quiet joy that feels contagious.
Inside the walls, the facility is minimum security. It currently houses 97 residents, all within five years or less of release. Despite the setting, the atmosphere is calm. Purposeful. Almost domestic.
Inside The Walls
Daisy has volunteered as an arts instructor in correctional facilities for several years. This year, a Maine Creates grant made it possible for her to design a program that brings clay not only to residents, but eventually to their families as well, grounding the work in reconnection.
Down the hall, past the cafeteria, is the room where the art classes take place. It feels less like a prison classroom and more like a college arts wing. A sign-up sheet for the morning’s class hangs in the hallway, every line filled. Inside, there’s a keyboard, conga drums, easels, drafting tables, and several acoustic guitars leaning casually beside a book of Steely Dan sheet music.
Unlike the larger Maine Correctional Center just up the hill, there are no fences here. There’s even a playground attached for visiting families. The women who live here come from a wide range of backgrounds and ages. Some are new mothers. Some are working toward their GED. Some are preparing for workforce training. All are navigating what it means to move forward.
Daisy Hutt specializes in ceramics. A graduate of Maine College of Art, she now manages a pottery studio not far from the facility. She carries a calm presence, an open smile, and a natural curiosity about people. As residents begin to file into the room, she greets them easily, learning names, meeting eyes.
“When’s the last time you worked with clay?” she asks.
“Probably elementary school,” one resident says. Others nod in agreement.
Let the Clay Lead
Today’s lesson is pinch pots: a foundational, accessible technique. Daisy explains the process as she moves around the room, asking residents what kind of art they enjoy. One mentions abstract art. Another loves graffiti and street art. Someone names Van Gogh. A resident named Teya lights up when she talks about makeup, nails, and tattoos.
“I’m big on tattoos,” she says proudly.
“I love that art is such a broad thing,” another resident, Danielle, adds. “Anybody can have a part in it. Art is for everybody.”
As balls of clay begin rolling between palms, Daisy demonstrates how to insert a thumb, how to pinch gently, how to rotate the form slowly.
“Let the clay lead the way,” she says.
And it does.
The energy in the room softens. Conversation flows. Laughter bubbles up. The intercom crackles periodically, calling out names over the loudspeaker, and today it does so with particular enthusiasm.
“She’s on it today, huh?” jokes Erika Grover, the Correctional Education Program Director, who has joined the class. The room laughs together.
Erika oversees programs that help residents learn new skills and prepare for reentry. She’s worked with Daisy before and is eager to see this new program unfold.
Over time, residents will be joined by their family members in the community gathering room to build clay together in a series of shared sessions designed specifically to support family reunification. Daisy developed the concept during Maine Creates cohort training with Side x Side, grounding it in both care and intention. There will be five family sessions running through May. And judging by the first day, the idea has landed exactly where it needed to.
As pinch pots take shape, ideas begin to bloom. A resident named Heather imagines a coffee mug, her hand’s grip embedded into the clay.
“That’s so pretty,” another resident says. “It looks like a flower.”
Cassi crafts a lid for her pot. Daisy helps her add a recessed gallery near the rim.
“It looks like a little French hat,” Cassi jokes.
The hour-and-a-half session flies by. Cleanup begins. Residents thank Daisy as they leave, pieces carefully set aside to be fired later in Daisy’s kiln at her studio.
“This is like therapy,” one resident says on her way out.
After the room clears, Daisy and Erika linger. Erika shares that many of the women here have experienced frequent conflict before. It’s life, she says. But in the art room, something shifts.
They open up.
Some talk about memories from the outside world. Others talk about what they’ll make for their kids. About what comes next. And that’s where Maine Creates meets the moment. Designed to train teaching artists, strengthen community connection, and enhance the well-being of Mainers through the arts, the initiative is doing exactly that — even here, even now.
What’s Next
Daisy’s clay classes will continue every Monday at the Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center, open to any resident who wants to participate. Family sessions will follow. And we’ll be back to share that story, too.
Because the joy of making art doesn’t recognize walls or boundaries.
It finds a way in.
We’ll also continue following three other Maine Creates pilot projects happening this winter and spring, including:
- With Love, From Van Buren: A Community Mural Project
- Spatial Design Academy for Kids in Lewiston
- Library Art Kits & Exhibits in Guilford
