Creative Guts

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with Daniela Wenzel at the Mosaic Art Collective in Manchester, NH! German-born and a New Hampshire native, Daniela is a multidisciplinary artist whose work comprises oil painting, improvised quiltmaking, pyrography, and sometimes all of the above. Daniela describes her origin story, weaving in details of how her Bauhaus...

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...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with Yeonsoo Kim. Originally from South Korea, Yeonsoo is a full-time studio artist and educator living in Exeter with a focus on ceramics, in particular Onggi, traditional Korean earthenware used extensively as tableware, as well as storage. Yeonsoo was exposed to Onggi during a workshop his first year of U...

Creative Guts is seeking art and writing in all styles, subject matters, and mediums for the 2025 Youth Zine! The mission of Creative Guts’ zines is to stimulate and inspire creativity by creating a platform for gutsy creatives to share their art and writing with the world. Recognizing it is often the youngest among us who are the bravest, this edition will be a platform for youth to display their...

In this episode of Creative Guts, board members and co-hosts Becky Barsi and Joe Acone sit down with Hannah Cole Dahar in her studio at the Mosaic Art Collective in Manchester, NH! Hannah, a multi-talented artist and full-time art teacher, shares her creative journey from childhood to present day. Discover how Hannah's fiery train caboose drawing at age three sparked her artistic path and her secr...

Creative Guts has launched a Discord server and you’re invited to be a part of it! Discord is a voice, video, and text chat app that's used by tens of millions of people ages 13+ to talk and hang out with their communities and friends.  With the Creative Guts Discord server, we aim to create more community, with a focus on supporting each other’s creative practices and the creative community in ge...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with Andy DeMeo of Granite Goodness! Granite Goodness is a podcast and newsletter focused on OPTIMISM in New Hampshire. He interviews problem solvers and shares stories of progress and solutions in and around the Granite State. In this episode, we talk about progress journalism and why we all should be a lit...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat (virtually) with Julia Trueblood and Karin Trachtenberg! Julia is an actor and producer; Karin is a theater maker, filmmaker, and director. Julia and Karin’s film “Three A.M.” was featured and won the ‘Heartstrings’ Award in Creative Guts’ film festival in June 2024.  In this episode, we discuss how Julia and Ka...

In today’s episode, some of the Creative Guts Board of Directors chat about why they serve this small but mighty nonprofit and why the arts are important to New Hampshire. They reflect on how important creativity is for everyone, creativity as an economic driver for our communities, and what makes Creative Guts unique.   Learn more about Creative Guts at www. CreativeGutsPodcast.com . Sign up for...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat (virtually) with Ruby Shabazz! Ruby is a singer, songwriter, and performer who writes, records, and performs her music solo and with a live band. In this episode, we talk about Ruby’s early musical inspirations (Mariah Carey!) and her evolution from pop and love songs about boys to music with more grit and her n...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with artist Nate Twombly! Nate is a freelance illustrator whose work includes drawings and paintings based on New England, seasonality, camping, sports, music, robots, and sometimes folklore and sci-fi. Nate primarily creates his illustrations digitally these days, but has dabbled with everything from acryli...

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 hosts Laura Harper Lake and Becky Barsi interview award-winning photographer Becky Field. They discuss Becky's transition from a career in wildlife ecology to photography, her project "Different Roots, Common Dreams" documenting New Hampshire's immigrant communities, and her latest work "Finding Home: Portraits and Memories of Immigrants." Becky shares insights on...

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...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman sit down with Shayla Gerkin and Hazel Tompkins, two NH Teen Poet Laureates! The mission of the NH Teen Poet Laureate team is to maintain the accessibility of poetry for all NH teens, and to spread the power of writing. In this episode, we’re going to talk about how! The NH Teen Poet Laureate team creates opportunitie...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Angie Lane interview a variety of creatives and makers at the Concord Multicultural Festival! The Concord Multicultural Festival is an annual celebration of the cultural diversity in the Capital Region in New Hampshire. This vibrant event celebrates a rich diversity in the area and promotes cultural understanding and appreciation thr...

In this mini episode of Creative Guts, Laura and Sarah chat about our  call for art and writing for our Fall 2024 Zine, with a theme of Love Letter to a Place. We’re seeking writing and visual works that share the places that inspire, have a personally significant meaning, or that you simply love. ELIGIBILITY: Creatives 18 years and older, from any country, are welcome to apply with written works...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat with Esmeldy Angeles, a self-taught photographer who focuses on portraits and creative photography! Esmeldy was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New Hampshire when she was 14 years old. As a self-taught photographer, her unique style leads to powerful and dynamic visual storytelling.  In our conversat...

In this mini episode, Laura shares all the exciting details about our upcoming second annual Art ‘Round the Room event. Art ‘Round the Room offers adults the unique opportunity to explore a variety of art mediums at timed stations with guidance from professional artists. It’s a rare chance for grown-ups to unleash their creativity, learn, and play. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, Novem...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman talk with John Fladd, food and cocktail writer with Hippo Press and Heavy Table! John spends his days developing recipes, weaving stories about food and drink, and talking with restaurateurs! In this episode we talk about the relationship between food and culture, John’s process for writing for digital and print, 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 s...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat with Catherine Stewart, a playwright, filmmaker, dancer, and more! Catherine is the co-founder of Film Unbound, which has become a collective of artists who make mission-driven media for changemakers, inventors, and innovators. Formerly, Catherine served as the artistic director of the New Hampshire Theatre Proj...

Creative Guts is back! While we enjoyed our break this summer, we’re so glad to be back!  In this short episode, we’ll give you a rundown on our summer from our 5th birthday party at Auspicious Brew to the 2024 youth zine! We’ll also fill you in on what’s to come (spoiler alert: Art Round the Room is back by popular demand)! This season, you can expect interviews with amazing creatives here on thi...

  Creative Guts is five years old! In this episode, Laura and Sarah reflect on the highlights of the past year — the podcast, the programming, and what is on the horizon! Thank you to our partners and funders: Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery, the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, Exeter High School, the NH State Council on the Arts, and others!  A special thank you to YOU: our listeners! To t...

In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake, Sarah Wrightsman, and Mike Durkee interview makers of all ages at the NH Maker Fest, hosted by the Children's Museum of New Hampshire, on June 1, 2024. The NH Maker Fest is an all-ages celebration of creativity and innovation, where makers can share their project, hobbies, experiments, and more with the community.  At the Creative Guts...