Creative Guts

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with wildlife artist and author Matt Patterson! Matt is a wildlife illustrator and artist that specializes in turtles and other wildlife. He’s illustrated five books, including three with author Sy Montgomery, The Book of Turtles, Of Time and Turtles, and The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle.   In this episod...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Joe Acone chat with Meg Locker, founder of NH Craft Club.  Meg began NH Craft Club in early 2025 as a way for people to craft and connect through exploring new crafts. This inclusive and welcoming club hosts multiple events across the state each month, with projects like wreath-making, stamped tea towels, and building vision boards t...

In this mini episode, we share exciting details about our upcoming third annual Art ‘Round the Room event. Art ‘Round the Room is a one-of-a-kind experience where adults get to play and experiment with a variety of art mediums at timed stations, guided by professional artists. It’s a rare opportunity for grown-ups to get creative, explore new materials, and have some fun! This year’s event will be...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with fine artist and painter Cindy Rizza. Cindy is celebrated for her intimate still lifes that transform everyday textiles, heirlooms, and domestic objects into meditations on memory, comfort, and vulnerability. Her work often blurs the line between sanctuary and tension, inviting viewers to consider the deeper emotiona...

In this bonus episode, we ask for a big favor: your input! As our Board of Directors heads into our strategic planning phase for the organization, your feed back will help us measure the impact of our work and how we can better serve creatives and aspiring creatives. Through a raffle, one lucky winner will receive a Creative Guts tee-shirt, and another winner will receive a Creative Guts merch pac...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Becky Barsi chat with Shanta Lee Honeycutt, an award-winning visual artist, author, photographer; and Damon Honeycutt, a professional artist across the mediums of dance, martial arts, music composition. Both are also educators. Our conversations in this interview weave between the diverse mediums and adventures of these two creatives...

The Creative Guts’ team is back with another installment of Creative Catalogues! In these mini episodes, someone from the Creative Guts’ team will share a glimpse at the inspiring, creative things and folks they think you ought to know about. This week’s episode is being hosted by Laura, one of the co-founders and hosts of Creative Guts and the artist behind Artful Harper Studios.   Featured in th...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with cartoonist, historian, and award-winning author Joel Christian Gill. Joel is celebrated for his powerful graphic novels that illuminate overlooked narratives from Black history, including Tales of The Talented Tenth, his graphic novelization of Stamped from the Beginning, and his autobiographical work Fights. His st...

Our summer break from the podcast was busy with lots of fun happenings, but we’re excited to be back in action with the podcast. In this short episode, Laura and Becky share a rundown on our summer from the publishing of our Tiny Art Exchange Zine to our second Short Film Festival! We also chat about community support that's needed for our upcoming Art ‘Round the Room. Plus, stick around for plent...

Creative Guts is celebrating SIX years! In this special birthday episode, the four hosts — Laura, Sarah, Becky, and Joe — will reflect on the highlights of the past year, discuss the state of the arts in New Hampshire at the moment, share what we’re looking forward to in the coming year, and more! After this episode, we’re taking a much-needed break for the summer! While you won’t hear new episode...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with artist and educator Chris Archer. With a studio practice encompassing functional pottery, sculptural forms, arrangements, and site-specific installations, Chris's work has been showcased nationally and internationally, earning multiple awards and inclusion in esteemed collections such as the San Angelo Museum of Fin...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat with Jenny Tibbits. Jenny is a multi-disciplinary artist and  tribal elder for the Newichawannock tribe, which is a subtribe of the Pennacook and part of the larger Abenaki diaspora. As an artist, Jenny primarily works in torchwork glass, photography, fashion design, and fiber arts. In this episode, we’ll talk a...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with musician and artist Dan Blakeslee! Dan has been making music and art for the past 30 years — in fact, he performed at Laura’s college back in 2003! His music is largely about his life, but sometimes it’s about ghouls and vampires. His art, which we think pairs beautifully with his music, is whimsical an...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with Anthony Payton, a freelance writer, podcast host, and motivational speaker. Anthony is a regular columnist for the Common Ground Initiative at the Granite State News Collaborative and its partner Manchester Ink Link and co-host of the Lock and Key Podcast. Anthony was also a featured speaker at TEDx Amo...

For a second year of magic and fun, the Creative Guts Short Film Festival is back! Creative Guts is partnering with the Red River Theatres to present this event where filmmakers and art lovers can enjoy watching short films on the silver screen.   We’re inviting independent filmmakers to submit their short films to our short film festival, which will be hosted at Red River Theatres in Concord, New...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with artist Becca Lane of One Lane Studios! Becca is an acrylic painter who creates portraits of animals combining hyperrealism with a colorful and playful contemporary vibe! Becca’s work features silly and sweet oddball creatures like racoons, possums, spiders, and more. Becca recently won the THRIVE Arts a...

The Creative Guts’ team is back with another installment of Creative Catalogues!  In these mini-episodes, someone from the Creative Guts team will share a glimpse at their creative consumptions — the inspiring creative things they’re loving lately. This week’s episode is brought to you by Jozimar Matimano, a fine artist and director on the Creative Guts Board.   Featured in this episode: The Creat...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with freelance writer Ben Cassidy! A journalist whose byline you’ve likely seen in places like GQ, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Scientific American, Ben’s writing blends curiosity with craft, often taking readers into the unexpected corners of science, culture, and the human condition. He’s been recognized by Lo...

In this special episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Angie Lane are live at Exeter High School for the annual Slam Free and Fly poetry event! This was a powerful evening of original poetry from freshmen students participating in the Arts in Action project, a school to community partnership supported and funded by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. In this episode, you...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with photographer Shawn Pierce! Shawn is a portrait and commercial photographer and the owner of Studio Two Seven Nine in Rochester, New Hampshire! His background is in motorsports photography — yes, there’s a story there — and he’s shifted gears to photographing people! Shawn is also the President of the Ne...

The Creative Guts’ team is back with another installment of Creative Catalogues!  In these mini-episodes, someone from the Creative Guts team will share a glimpse at their creative consumptions — the inspiring creative things they’re loving lately. This week’s episode is brought to you by Jozimar Matimano, a fine artist and director on the Creative Guts Board.   Featured in this episode: Finding y...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with artist Aris Moore! Using a variety of mediums, including some more out of the box ones, Aris Moore draws mostly invented beings or creatures that are whimsical, strange, silly, serious, emotional, and oddly relatable. In our conversation, we talk with Aris about how her creatures came to be, how she app...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with New Hampshire artist Jackie Hanson! Jackie is a painter, printmaker, and creative entrepreneur from the Lakes Region. Her work is vibrant and whimsical with an emphasis on nature and all things New Hampshire.  In this episode, we talk about Jackie’s identity as a printmaker, the Chicken People Club, and...

For the fifth year, Creative Guts invites creatives to participate in an international tiny art exchange. Participants will create an original piece of tiny art (5” x 7” or smaller, in any ratio) to mail to an address we supply from another participant. Everyone will send a piece of art and receive a piece of art from another creative in the world. This is a great way to connect, be inspired, and...

Creative Guts is pleased to share this episode of Off the Wall with Matt and Amy from the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, New Hampshire. Off The Wall is a semi-regular series where Matt and Amy chat with a wide variety of visual artists, digging into the nuts and bolts of their creative process to reveal more about the layers of meaning, emotion, and intent behind their work. In this e...