Where Art and Social Change Converge
Iron Pillows and Art with Aylin Green
by Ayushi Dutta
She’s the Executive Director of the West Windsor Arts Council, but she’s also a sculptor, a painter, and a leader and a believer in art’s power to include and build community. Aylin Green’s infectious energy and enthusiasm didn’t just inspire me to see art in a different light; it showed me the power of the creative mind in our lives.
“It feels natural to me to work in different media and to select the media depending on the idea that I have,” Aylin tells me, recalling her time at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts. Though art is often thought of as only painting or drawing, Green’s artistic spirit spilled over into mixed-media art, including elements like clay, printmaking, and photography.
Her “Iron Pillow” is one of those ideas that seems impossible to picture, but her vision and strive to make an art piece that combined the hard parts of metal with the softer aspects of creative materials like lace and crochet. “I think it was a really great synthesis of some of the ideas that I’m exploring in terms of gender roles and resisting traditional gender roles.” she explains. The traditionally masculine aspects of art like metalwork combined with soft lace and crochet culminated in the art piece, which in itself feels like a cultural revolution. A picture of the piece is given below:
Aylin credits many of her artistic revelations to her professors. Rafael Ortiz introduced her to academic art movements like Dada and the radical potential of performance. Mel Edwards taught her to weld. Emma Amos taught her how to model domestic crafts like quilting and collaging that could be elevated into fine art.
But Aylin’s perspective is also shaped by her identity: the daughter of a Turkish mother and a Jewish American father, raised in a largely Christian community near Boston. “So I grew up sort of feeling a little outside of things and having a perspective of more of an outsider,” she reflects. That outsider lens became a valuable tool, guiding her toward work that questions societal roles, encourages overlooked voices, and appreciates the art that makes everything beautiful.
Today, through the West Windsor Arts Council, Aylin continues that dream of inclusion. The organization frequently partners with nonprofits like Art Against Racism, HomeFront, and many others- all of which work to support and advocate for local communities and society.
“I think art is absolutely necessary,” Aylin tells me. “It is a vital source of reflection and expression, you know, for not just individuals, but for our culture collectively as well.” Her dream collaboration? Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu, whose work navigates femininity, ecology, and futurism. “I really identify with the themes that she explores, like sexuality, femininity, ecology, politics,” she says.
Outside the studio, Aylin finds grounding in nature, science, and cosmology. Her Heavenly Bodies series connects the cellular with the celestial, weaving scientific wonder into spiritual inquiry.
But more than anything, she believes in the creative spark within everyone. “We’re all about nurturing the artist inside each person,” she says. “It’s really just a matter of finding what it is that sparks your creativity”.
One thing I learnt from Ms. Green? In a world full of chaos, art has always helped her and others find themselves- and my interview with her helped me understand what it truly means to be an artist.
Ayushi Dutta
(Aylin Green is a major collaborator with Art Against Racism. West Windsor Arts Council is the host of our annual juried exhibition, Manifesting Beloved Community which will be in its fifth year in 2026.)