Introducing the 100th full-length interview on Creative Guts! Thank you to our listeners for being with us over the years! In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat with Randall Nielsen, the artist behind From Strange Pieces and the founder of Queerlective! Randall is an artist, engineer, and community organizer living in Manchester. His personal mission is to spread color and light throughout the universe through queer shiny art! In this episode we talk about Randall’s personal journey over the past couple of years, how and why he founded Queerlective, and more! If you’re not familiar, Queerlective is a community organization, based in New Hampshire, that seeks to create and promote inclusive environments for the queer, BIPOC, and underserved communities with a focus on utilizing art for personal and community growth. Queerlective is relatively new, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them! Check out Queerlective on the web at www.Queerlective.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/queer_lective, and From Strange Pieces on the web at www.StrangePieces.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/fromstrangepieces. Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast. This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. Thank you to our friends in Rochester for their support of the show. If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com.
Introducing the 100th full-length interview on Creative Guts! Thank you to our listeners for being with us over the years!
In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat with Randall Nielsen, the artist behind From Strange Pieces and the founder of Queerlective! Randall is an artist, engineer, and community organizer living in Manchester. His personal mission is to spread color and light throughout the universe through queer shiny art! In this episode we talk about Randall’s personal journey over the past couple of years, how and why he founded Queerlective, and more!
If you’re not familiar, Queerlective is a community organization, based in New Hampshire, that seeks to create and promote inclusive environments for the queer, BIPOC, and underserved communities with a focus on utilizing art for personal and community growth. Queerlective is relatively new, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them!
Check out Queerlective on the web at www.Queerlective.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/queer_lective on From Strange Pieces on the web at www.StrangePieces.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/fromstrangepieces.
Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast.
This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. Thank you to our friends in Rochester for their support of the show.
If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax deductible donation at
EPISODE 183
[00:00:00] LH: I'm Laura Harper Lake.
[00:00:01] SW: And I'm Sarah Wrightsman. You’re listening to Creative Guts.
[00:00:02] LHL: You’re listening to Creative Guts.
[INTRO]
[00:00:17] LHL: Hey, friends. Thanks for tuning in to Creative Guts.
[00:00:20] SW: On today's episode, we're talking with Randall Nielsen. Randall, as you probably know, is the artist behind From Strange Pieces and the Founder of Queerlective. If you're not familiar, Queerlective is an arts organization with a mission of creating and promoting inclusive environments for the queer, BIPOC, and underserved communities with a focus on utilizing art for personal and community growth. Randall is an artist himself on a mission to spread color and light throughout the universe through queer, shiny art. So we're pretty excited.
[00:00:52] LHL: With that, let's get right into this episode of Creative Guts with Randall Nielsen.
[INTERVIEW]
[00:01:01] LHL: Randall, thanks so much for being on Creative Cuts.
[00:01:04] RN: Thank you so much for having me. I know this has been a little bit of a work in progress because of scheduling. But I'm so happy to finally be here. Thank you so much to both of you for having me tonight.
[00:01:14] SW: It seemed like such a no-brainer that we were, of course, going to have you on the podcast at some point. So I'm glad we finally are here. We did it. We made it happen.
[00:01:20] LHL: Yes, very much looking forward to it for quite a while. Even before we approached you, I feel like your name had been on our list for like a year at least.
[00:01:27] RN: Oh, I love hearing that. Don't tell Jason.
[00:01:32] SW: Jason's now on my list, too, because of the thing that Mosaic posted of like the fabric and like the house in it. I was like, “Oh, my God. I'm obsessed.” Anyway.
[00:01:42] RN: It's crazy to think about I have gone through such a tremendous growth through forming Queerlective, and being more authentic to myself, and creating more art, and expressing myself. But it's also really crazy to think about how much growth even Jason and the other Queerlective members have gone through. Before starting Queerlective, Jason – his mom does quilting, and she's very talented. She's a very talented fiber artist. But I don't think Jason probably would have considered himself artistic.
It’s wild now because we will be in a space. For example, we’re at the Kimball Jenkins SALON Show opening. There was somebody there that was like, “Oh, my gosh. I came here just to see your peace, and I'm so excited to see your piece at Mosaic,” because they saw some of his other pieces. It's wild to think the amount of growth he's gone through in this process, too. Even the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, their conference.
[00:02:37] SW: Right. Isn't that so cool?
[00:02:39] RN: Jason was the one that hosted the workshop on community collaborative art which was incredible.
[00:02:45] LHL: Love that. Wow. That is beautiful. Sarah just showed me an image on her phone of it, and it's actually reminding me of a piece similarly that I've done before and I've seen before with, like, the unfolding and the interacting with the layers within. That really hits my heart. It’s so cool.
[00:03:06] RN: Oh, I love that.
[00:03:08] LHL: Let's back up a moment, and let's talk about Queerlective first. Will you share what it's about and its history?
[00:03:16] RN: Yes. We formed Queerlective in July of last year, immediately after Queen City Pride last year, because we realized that our community really needed consistent opportunities for queer, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities to gather solely around celebration. The entire Queerlective team really believes art is a tremendous tool in community engagement and bringing people together and sharing stories. So, yes, we formed it in July. The reception from the community from the get-go has been really, really tremendous. It's really allowed us to grow at a really crazy but exciting rate.
[00:04:01] LHL: I'm sorry. Did you say July of last year?
[00:04:03] RN: Yes.
[00:04:03] SW: Yes, I know.
[00:04:03] LHL: It feels like you have – Queerlective has been around for at least three or four or five years in my mind somehow, which I think just goes to show the level of impact that, A, at least you're marketing at the very least does.
[00:04:15] RN: Thank you.
[00:04:15] LHL: If not, you're programming as a whole. That is really impressive that in my mind, it's been around for many, many years.
[00:04:21] RN: Yes. I will quickly shout out Ashley Johnson as our marketing director. She does a lot of our marketing. I'll do the funny videos every once in a while, but she's the one that really does the core of our marketing. She’s really, really amazing. But I will say that Queerlective’s growth is really a testament to how important our work is for the community. It really is just something that's really needed and wanted and really resonates with a lot of people in New Hampshire and even outside of New Hampshire. Our reach is really expanding at a really fast rate. It’s really exciting, but it obviously comes with these challenges in terms of organizing and capacity building and leadership on my part.
[00:05:05] LHL: Absolutely.
[00:05:06] SW: We're definitely going to talk more about Queerlective, but will you also sort of introduce yourself to the listeners and tell us a little bit about your art?
[00:05:14] RN: Yes. Typically, when I introduce myself, I will say I'm an artist, engineer, and community organizer. I make sure to include that engineer portion in there because that is what I do as a day job, although I am trying to get Queerlective to pay me full-time because I just love doing that work so much more. In terms of my art, my engineering background comes into play in my art in a lot of ways in terms of the structural elements of my art and the kind of things that I try to represent in my art.
[00:05:45] SW: I think I knew that you were an engineer by day, but I don't think I ever really, like, made that connection to your art. It makes perfect sense. You can see engineer in your art.
[00:05:54] RN: Yes. I use a lot of different materials and a lot of different kinds of technology in my art. Laser cutting and 3D printing I use a lot and even I use a lot of resin and a lot of unconventional materials. Yes, there's a lot of technical aspects that go into my art. One thing that I would really love to work on is incorporating even more electronics and technology in my art and producing more interactive art pieces. I've been kind of delving into that recently, but there's a skill set that I have to kind of build up before I'm able to share these pieces. Get ready for more, like, interactive art coming out from From Strange Pieces very soon.
[00:06:35] SW: Cool. Is any of your art 2D? I feel like I can't think of a single thing that's just like –
[00:06:40] RN: I do do digital illustration. That's kind of how I got started doing art. For the longest time, I always, like, doodled, and I was pretty good at doing portraits. At the beginning of last year, when I made the decision to kind of take my art seriously, I actually took a drawing or an intro to drawing class at New England College. That was really my introduction into taking art seriously. I did do a portrait for your blue zine. I do a couple of portraits every once in a while. But primarily now, it's graphic design and then the sculptural stuff that I do.
[00:07:16] LHL: The blue zine is not the only zine that you're in for Creative Guts, right?
[00:07:19] RN: No. I'm also in the most recent one, the Kaleidoscope one as well.
[00:07:24] SW: The coolest one.
[00:07:25] LHL: Which is just made for you, with the – your pieces are so vibrant and colorful and just the most dynamic. I think you are the only artist that has five pieces in this show. We really, like – there was no way we could not say yes to them at all.
[00:07:43] RN: I love hearing that because I was a little nervous. I was like, “Am I going overboard?” But I did feel like my pieces really resonated with the theme of the show. I think all of them are monochromatic, except for the one that's the great garbage patch/my first year in art. But even that one, despite it not being monochromatic, there's just so much color and so much texture in that one that I felt like it still really resonated with the theme. Yes.
[00:08:12] LHL: You have like – there's only a few artists that have a whole spread, and you do. Your work, it's working independently and then collaboratively with itself. Then on the wall at the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, which is the companion exhibit to the scene. It’s just delicious. Your work is just – if I had one word to describe it, I'd say it's delicious.
[00:08:34] RN: Thank you.
[00:08:34] LHL: I want to scoop it up and swim in it and everything.
[00:08:38] RN: Yes. I can definitely see that even the earrings that I'm wearing right now, they kind of look like rock candy. Yes. I use a lot of really bright colors in my work. The fact that I use resin a lot of times also helps with that kind of candy aspect.
[00:08:57] SW: Yes. I think I really like, too, when we were putting the zine together and I was looking at, like, people's mediums. So it's acrylic paint, and then yours are wire, spray paint, cellophane, resin.
[00:09:10] RN: Yes. Like I said, I love just using different materials. Another thing that I wanted to point out about the art is all of the names have mostly a kind of scientific kind of theme to them. The Morula one, that one, when I finished making it, it reminded me of a clump of cells in a uterus, essentially. That's kind of what that piece reminded me of is something being created, essentially. It also reminds me of the movie Annihilation. Have you guys ever seen that, the scene where the entity takes Natalie Portman's blood, and it starts to create a new being and when this – you'll see that in there where the –
[00:09:52] SW: Oh, my gosh. Yes.
[00:09:54] RN: It gets – it takes her blood, and then the cells start dividing. You'll see that in there. It looks very similar, too.
[00:10:03] SW: Have I seen that? I feel like I’ve seen that.
[00:10:05] LHL: It was a book as well.
[00:10:06] RN: Annihilation is a stunningly beautiful movie. The book I also really loved, although the second one almost murdered me. Most of the books that I listen to or most of the books I read, I do audiobooks. The second one was actually really boring, and it almost put me to sleep on my drive to work. I had to fight for my life to stay awake.
[00:10:26] LHL: Oh, my gosh. I typically do audiobooks as well.
[00:10:29] SW: I love this movie.
[00:10:30] LHL: But I ended up – I read those. I remember I read those, and that was a while back, so yes. I don't quite remember how I felt about the second one as much. The first one really hits you.
[00:10:40] RN: The movie is visually stunning.
[00:10:42] SW: The movie was so cool. Yes.
[00:10:43] RN: There’s a lot of take-home inspiration from that.
[00:10:46] LHL: Yes. That piece that we were just speaking about, it makes me think of an eclipse. So I think of a celestial body or a planet but then also something other, something biomorphic, an organism that's living but celestial. That's without –
[00:11:03] RN: I have another piece that's a much bigger one that I call Black Hole Sun. Basically, with that one, I spray-painted an eclipse on a canvas. Then I formed the cellophane into a dome over it. With that piece, the Morula piece, I was actually trying to recreate it. But I couldn't get it perfect, and so I was taking the cellophane off and putting it back on and retrying. The benefit to that is that it added a ton of texture to the piece. At the same time, I had a hyper fixation with stringing beads using those spinny things from – because I got it from TikTok. So I had a ton of these strung beads, and I was like, “What would it look like if I just put it in the center?” It turned into my favorite piece that I've ever made, which is crazy.
[00:11:47] SW: That's the beauty of art. You go in with an intention, and you still get surprised by what comes sometimes.
[00:11:54] LHL: Truly.
[00:11:54] RN: Yes, absolutely. Everything I do is extremely experimental. I do have an idea of what I'm trying to do. But given the way that I'm making things, I have to – with the sculptural pieces using the cellophane, I came up with this process where I just call it cellophanify. But it's spreading a thin layer of resin on top of cellophane, and then you have to rig it up into certain shapes to get it to solidify into that shape. A lot of times, I will use gravity to kind of mold the cellophane. But I can never completely guarantee what the final shape is going to be, and I also can't guarantee that I won't go into our basement, which is my studio, and there will be a pile of resin on the floor with tools glued into it. Then I have to chisel the pieces out.
[00:12:47] LHL: Oh, gosh.
[00:12:47] RN: We still rent our place, so I don't know what I'll have to do to clean that up when we leave.
[00:12:54] LHL: I'm sure there's a YouTube how-to on how to remove that. Then you can turn it into art. I don't know.
[00:13:02] SW: Will you tell us a little bit more about this journey to the point where you started taking your art more seriously and made that decision? Have you always been creative?
[00:13:11] RN: I've always been creative. I've always done these little projects. I've always sketched. But it wasn't until, honestly, at the end of 2021 when my mental health got really bad partially because of COVID, partially because I was in New Hampshire and I hadn't yet found a community for myself. I found putting myself in positions where I wasn't being my most authentic self. I really did have a pretty significant mental health issue at the end of 2021. It was at the beginning of that year that I was like, “Okay, what do I need to do to honestly be happier?” A big part of that was being more authentic to myself and expressing myself more.
Within a month, that of January, is when I came up with From Strange Pieces, and I put together all the branding stuff. Then from there, I set my goal to market at Queen City Pride in 2022 last year. That was my first time sharing my art with the community. Again, it's just been such a really short period of time. It is wild to take a step back sometimes and see how different I am both as an artist and as an organizer in that really short amount of time. It is pretty comical because there are certain people that I tried to engage with or I engaged with in that very early stage of the transition to where I am now. Those are people like my art teacher at New England College or even some of the other kids that were taking class with me there.
A lot of times, I will forget just how much my art has changed and my leadership skills have changed. Then I'll see these people, and they'll be like, “Oh, my gosh. I hear you on NHPR. I saw you on the news the other day.” I was like, “Oh, geez. You really saw me when I started really getting into art.” It's wild to just think of how different I am in such a short amount of time.
[00:15:23] SW: Right, right. I would have just assumed you were doing your art thing all this time.
[00:15:27] RN: I've been pretty strategic about it, I think. I think I do have a pretty good – well, actually, I don't know if it's strategy or as much of opportunistic. I'm somebody that will throw a fishing line every time there's an opportunity to see what catches. I think that's helped me a lot. I think not being afraid to fail helps a lot. But, yes, it's been a lot of growth in such a short amount of time.
[00:15:58] SW: Yes. Well, given all that growth in such a short amount of time, do you have lingering imposter syndrome now?
[00:16:04] RN: I don't. I don't.
[00:16:08] LHL: I love hearing that. That's amazing.
[00:16:10] SW: No. I’m just killing it.
[00:16:10] RN: It is interesting because I am for the most part a very self-taught artist. But I do know I'm making this art for myself, and I love what I make. I don't really get that imposter syndrome when it comes to my art. Even when I'm tabling as an artist, I can tell people resonate with the pieces that I make. Not all the pieces equally. I will say as you start tabling and making art kind of to sell, you do have to cater to people.
I will say one of my favorite illustrations that I've ever done is a drawing of somebody I call the alien queen, and she is basically a yassified version of the Diva from The Fifth Element. Have you guys watched that movie?
[00:17:00] LHL: Yes.
[00:17:01] RN: She's stunning. The illustration that I did of her is just so gorgeous. I think it's, like, beautiful. But in the time that I've been selling that print at markets and stuff, I probably have sold three of them. Whereas one night as a joke, I made a glittery illustration of the words little [inaudible 00:17:22] in a heart, and those are my second biggest selling stickers is my little [inaudible 00:17:29] stickers.
[00:17:31] SW: That doesn't surprise me at all. That's a thing that happens.
[00:17:34] LHL: It is. With every artist, there's the thing you put 70 hours into, your whole heart and everything, and nobody really cares about it. Then some little doodle can just blow up.
[00:17:45] RN: Yes. I will say in terms of those graphic design things, the other thing that sells really well is the NH Pride with the birch trees.
[00:17:54] SW: Oh, yes. Yes.
[00:17:55] RN: That one came to me, I don't know, in a dream or something. I was like, “I have an idea,” and I illustrated it so quickly. Honestly, I ordered pins right away, which is a lot to do because I don't know if you guys have ordered pins. But the upfront cost is kind of huge.
[00:18:10] LHL: Wicked, yes.
[00:18:10] SW: Yes.
[00:18:11] LHL: I actually haven't because of that. I’m like, “Wow.”
[00:18:13] RN: Yes. It’s like a couple –
[00:18:14] SW: Now, even Creative Guts we just made our own pins. We just –
[00:18:17] RN: It's a couple hundred dollars. So it's like –
[00:18:20] LHL: My God.
[00:18:21] RN: Those pins and that design really just the epitome of, like, NH Pride, both having pride, being a queer person, but also having pride in being part of New Hampshire. So I've sold a ton of those and, yes, people really love that design. I haven't made anything that's been better than that in terms of my graphic designing kind of stuff yet.
[00:18:43] SW: Oh, I love that.
[00:18:45] LHL: You had mentioned when you first came to New Hampshire, you really didn't feel comfortable in that you didn't find the community that you were seeking to feel really good and everything. But it sounds like you've been building it, and that’s like kudos to you for doing that because that's helping so many people and making it more vibrant to live here.
[00:19:05] RN: Yes. I mean, I had lived in New Hampshire for about four years before I started doing this kind of work. I will say I basically didn't leave my apartment that entire time. Really just going to work and just coming home. But since I made the decision to either create that community or find it, it's been a combination of both. Like I said, the reception from the community has been really tremendous and emotional. I will say part of Queerlective, I think I have to probably put this in the job description for new board members. You have to be okay in crying because of this work.
After Pride this year, we went through the photos of the event and the sense of happiness and joy, despite it being a torrential downpour the entire day, is just so palpable. We’ll also do some surveys from the vendors at the event. Even after our first event, which wasn't super successful in terms of getting people to come buy stuff, all of the artists said that they would do it again in a heartbeat because of the sense of community that they got from it. Yes. The first couple of events and Pride, the entire Queerlective team is just texting each other in group chat and talking about how much we're crying and we're, “I love you,” and stuff like that.
[00:20:33] SW: Oh, it’s so sweet.
[00:20:33] RN: It's just very sweet. We do realize at those times because it can be hard to really remember just how important this kind of work is to the community. But taking the step back after we do something big, it's really heartening to see just how important this kind of work for the community is.
I recently participated in a listening group for a hospital system here, and they asked me to come and speak on the experiences of queer people through the hospital system. They started it with the meeting with the statistics of the suicide rates and the mental health issues that a lot of queer people face. It made me really emotional because thinking back on the comments that we get from our community and how much it means to them to have people to share their experience with and people that see them for who they are and don't ask them to be anything different, there really is tremendous power in just providing that sense of community for people.
We don't always – the Queerlective team doesn't always realize it, but the work that we do really is life-saving work. Making sure that people feel a sense of belonging is really, really important. We've really been happy with the community that we've built.
[00:22:08] SW: Right. That's amazing, and it's incredible, too, in its own way that because of Queerlective, people know your name now and invite you to things like this hospital community outreach thing.
[00:22:19] RN: Yes. We get so many requests to be part of things, so many, especially during Pride month. We’re like, “You know, we exist the rest of the year, just so you know.” But we really do get a ton of requests to be a part of stuff, both as community advocates but also because people see the value of having these kind of art-focused aspects to their gatherings. That is part of our capacity building because Queerlective really is only three people right now. Well, I think by the time this comes out, it'll be more. There's just too much work for us to do on our own, and so we are working on building capacity and really bringing in more people that care about the kind of work that we're doing and providing them with the tools to help us help them.
[00:23:14] LHL: As a founder of this organization and bringing people in, do you feel this level of preciousness with what you've created in taking a step back and letting others help collectively drive the bus?
[00:23:31] RN: Yes. I do, somewhat. I mean, Queerlective is designed to be an organization that's by the community, for the community. I think really my role in that is being a catalyst to help facilitate other people's ideas and really kind of having a bigger picture of Queerlective’s goals long term. I think YouTube might have been a part of it. But when we first formed Queerlective, we started with just a community survey before we even had a real name for the organization.
[00:24:08] SW: That’s so cool.
[00:24:08] RN: I think we got 30 responses to that, which is a lot for something that didn't exist.
[00:24:13] SW: Didn’t exist yet. Yes.
[00:24:14] RN: So we asked people, like, “Which of these five names do you like? What color palettes do you like for our branding? What kind of things do you want this organization to do for the community?” Kind of a funny side story is that not everybody that was a part of that original group, Queerlective group, liked the name Queerlective because it is a little – it's not scandalous but it is a little in your face I will say.
[00:24:41] SW: I love it.
[00:24:42] RN: But, yes, all of us – that was the name that everybody – well, it was one of the two names that got the highest votes. Since then, all of us really just love the name. It's fun in terms of having to work with other community organizations. Part of the reason we love the name Queerlective is that if you want to work with us, you have to stay queer.
[00:25:05] SW: Yes. It’s very in your face but in a good way. Yes, yes. I'm a big fan. Actually, I was going to ask you like where you came up with a name and how you landed on it because that's hard. Naming an organization is hard.
[00:25:16] RN: It was really hard. I mean, we had a lot of possible names. Jason actually came up with the name Queerlective because he was thinking queer and elective. Elective in terms of school, so we’re like the fun thing you do after school as a side, like having fun.
[00:25:35] SW: Oh, that's so cute. That's not at all how I was thinking, but I love it.
[00:25:41] RN: Then we kind of just dropped that E in the middle, and it became Queerlective.
[00:25:45] LHL: Can you – if you want to. You don't have to. Would you like to share some of the runners-up names?
[00:25:50] RN: I actually don't remember all of them. I think when I started it because I was kind of like the pioneer for putting together this group, I think one of the names that I came up with is the Oddity Art Collective. But, yes, people didn't like that. I like the name odd because my art business is called From Strange Pieces. So I just love using those synonyms for “weird”. But, yes, it just didn't resonate as much with the people.
[00:26:19] SW: Yes. I love the name. Queerlective is awesome.
[00:26:21] RN: I love it, too.
[00:26:22] LHL: Yes. It’s great. It's really great.
[00:26:23] RN: I love our branding. I love pink. I love purple.
[00:26:30] LHL: It's gorgeous.
[00:26:31] RN: Thank you.
[00:26:31] LHL: You're – I'm a graphic designer by day, and I was looking at your site again recently. I remember it from about a year ago, which in my head it would have been around for a few years. But I guess it was new. Then I looked at it I think yesterday, and I was like, “Oh, gosh. It looks even more beautiful.” I really appreciate it.
[00:26:49] RN: Yes. It's funny because I did take a graphic design class in between first starting the website and now. I do think that it helped me a lot. I do have a lot of the assets in Canva from the initial website, and I'm like, “I can't believe I thought that that looked good.”
[00:27:05] LHL: Oh. Everything I've ever freaking designed, I go through that. I look back on stuff from the [inaudible 00:27:11] from two years ago at my company, this book I make every year. Every year, I look back and I think, “Oh, my God. It was hideous last year. How did anyone accept this?” It's just an endless cycle.
[00:27:21] RN: It is. I am, unfortunately, somebody that's, like, always, “Oh, it could be better,” and so I'm always just tweaking. I'm like, “Okay. Is it okay if we rebrand a little bit?” Ashley, our marketing person, is like, “No.” I'm like, “But it's okay. People know us. I think it's okay.”
[00:27:42] LHL: I think it looks very fresh and modern but colorful and playful. But it doesn't go too far where it steps away from the important community impact and, I want to say, seriousness of it because it really, like you mentioned, has probably saved people's lives. It's given them space to feel comfortable and welcomed in. So you, I think, do a really nice job all as a whole in creating branding that represents the playfulness but also the seriousness. That's a really hard line to walk.
[00:28:16] RN: Yes. I think I appreciate that Queerlective doesn't take ourselves too seriously all the time. I can think of even some of the videos that we've done recently like getting ready for Sip and Slay, all of the memes that we made. We had so much fun in our group chat coming up with those stupid, stupid memes. Then, also, our fundraising campaign that we just did where the two-minute sketches for everybody that donated five dollars or more. Did you guys see those? Oh, my gosh.
[00:28:49] LHL: No. I don't think I did.
[00:28:50] SW: It reminded me of, like, with the SPCA, they'll do a badly, poorly drawn pet sort of fundraiser, where you donate money. They’ll draw a shitty picture of your pet, and you're like, “love that.”
[00:29:03] RN: Yes. We're all drawing those and sharing them in the group chat. Every other one we'd be like, “Oh, my God. This person's going to hate us because we made them look so bad.” I’m like, “No, they know what they're getting into. We told them it was two minutes.”
[00:29:16] SW: So good.
[00:29:17] LHL: I'm going to have to go hunt it down. I've been kind of stepping a little bit back from social media, other than what I have to post. So my algorithm’s all messed up. It's probably why I missed it.
[00:29:29] LHL: I've definitely felt like this year I've gotten a little addicted, more than past years, and my screen time has gone up. I think it's been a hard year for me personally with family things and stuff like that. So I feel it's the new white noise. It's the new thing you can really just shut your brain off, too. But then it's making me not necessarily really look at things. I have to – that's another weird line. But I do see a lot of it through posting for us and stuff. Then I try to shut it off.
[00:30:02] SW: Yes. It's kind of funny because I stop myself sometimes from saying, like, “I don't have time for that,” particularly creative stuff. I could pick up a new instrument, but I don't have time for that. I could learn a new language, but I don't have time for that. Then I'm like, “No, you do. You just choose to use it by scrolling your phone instead.” The monster that you are.
[00:30:21] RN: Yes. I mean, I don't think I use social media. It's something that I use to fill a blank space. I don't necessarily seek it out, I guess. But I do like –
[00:30:35] SW: Good for you.
[00:30:37] RN: Yes. In terms of having time to do stuff, I can absolutely divert some of that time that I'm using on social media to creating more, which is really challenging.
[00:30:48] LHL: Yes. Speaking of time, how do you balance your time between these two huge passions and having a day job, building this community that is centered around art and wonderful people and then your own art? Is that an inner struggle for you?
[00:31:02] RN: It is a really big struggle. Queerlective absolutely is already a full-time job for me. Thankfully, I don't think my boss will listen to this podcast. But let's just say –
[00:31:16] SW: We can relate. We can relate.
[00:31:17] RN: Let's just say I have my own laptop on my desk a lot of times when I'm in the office. Yes. It's really challenging because I want to be able to dedicate a lot more time to Queerlective, but engineering pays the bills. So I think it will happen for me because Queerlective really – we're growing so fast, and I have a lot of confidence in the value of what we're doing. So it's really just a matter of time. I did kind of have a soft goal of being paid full-time for Queerlective within a year, but that is also ridiculous.
[00:31:53] SW: Very ambitious. Oh, my gosh.
[00:31:54] LHL: It’s optimistic.
[00:31:56] RN: Yes. The goal post in terms of fundraising for that is really funny because I'm like, “Oh, we just need $100,000.” I'm like, “No, we need $200,000. No. Actually, we need a million dollars over four or five years.”
[00:32:12] LHL: Yes. When you think of sustaining a position, that's something we've talked about with Creative Guts, a dream for someday. But for a person to be – being able to pay the bills consistently long term.
[00:32:25] SW: Yes. It’s more than just salary but all that fringe stuff and the admin that comes along with having that much money is. Yes.
[00:32:31] RN: That wasn’t even something I put together completely on my own. It took me a while to realize the full scope of creating a full-time job out of this. I was at the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits, their leadership conference. There was somebody else there that had just mentioned that their organization had gotten a million-dollar grant from the National Endowment for Health. That was over five years. I'm like, “That's what I have to do? That's what I have to go for? Are you kidding me?” But it's okay. I got that.
[00:33:09] LHL: I don't think there's one road map, though. I mean, maybe there'll be other opportunities as well, hopefully.
[00:33:16] RN: Yes. I'm definitely – it's interesting because I have made a significant amount from side gigs this year from art and consulting and freelance work. I didn't think that I could do that before. So we'll see. It'll probably be like a combination of a number of things but –
[00:33:37] LHL: Yes, good.
[00:33:38] SW: It's exciting stuff, though.
[00:33:39] RN: It is really exciting.
[00:33:41] SW: Will you tell us about what you did with Manchester Pride and the art committee and the murals?
[00:33:48] LHL: The murals.
[00:33:50] RN: Yes. Are you talking about the mural festival that I did with Arts Build Community?
[00:33:56] SW: Yes.
[00:33:57] RN: Yes. That was a really fantastic project, and I was really happy to be a part of it. A little background, I helped facilitate some community conversations for the mural festival that James Chase did as part of Arts Build Community. Me and the artist that was painting the specific mural went to My Turn, and we sat with the kids there and facilitated a conversation, asking them what community means to them. We even asked them to bring in some items as kind of a show-and-tell from their homes to discuss that. It was really, really special because you sometimes forget how insightful kids can be. So the conversation was really impactful and important. It just really meant a lot to be able to listen to their stories and also help come up with a mural that has their fingerprint on it.
One of the people that we ended up talking about as part of that facilitation was one of the parents of the kids in the group. She was known for coming in and making a lot of food for everybody. She ended up being put on that mural. So it was just really cool to be able to have these kind of projects, where the community is really represented in those.
[00:35:23] LHL: That's a really big deal.
[00:35:25] LHL: It's huge. I mean, Manchester, the whole face of it, has really changed over the last few years.
[00:35:30] SW: I know.
[00:35:31] RN: It is changing. It still needs some more help, but we – there's a lot of things that are going to happen next year, a lot of things, and they’re really exciting.
[00:35:42] LHL: You're saying that in a voice like it's kind of a secret.
[00:35:44] SW: We’ll find out.
[00:35:45] RN: I mean, it's not entirely a secret. It is a little bit of a challenge working with the city because there are so many boxes you have to check before you can fully say something is happening. One project that I'm excited about, but full disclosure, this is still a little bit in the planning phase, it’s not completely solidified just yet, is that I am working with the Conservation Law Foundation to put together a tactical urbanism project.
[00:36:19] SW: So cool.
[00:36:19] RN: What that is, is essentially what we would be doing is using art to improve visibility at intersections to improve road safety, but also create a sense of belonging for the people in that community. So the space that we have that's kind of proposed right now is Corey Square which is right next to Central High School, which is a space that needs a lot of love. A lot of the sidewalks in that area have not – they just need a little bit of love. So it's a really cool project to kind of act as a pilot of using art not in just a way to beautify the city but in a way to improve safety for the community.
Yes. I think the goal is to implement that in May. So around February, we'll probably be having some more kind of community talks discussing potentially visuals that we want in it. But that project will also require significant volunteer work to implement. So if somebody wants to get their hands dirty, come join us and help us paint the sidewalk.
[00:37:29] LHL: A true call to action. I love it.
[00:37:30] SW: It’s so cool.
[00:37:32] LHL: I love that it will enhance the community and improve it and make it safer. I was just in Manchester, and I was crossing a sidewalk, and I realized that there was no chirping or noise or anything. I used to live in Manchester but it's been a while. I remember just as I was crossing thinking this is weird that there isn't any auditory signal to let people know that it's safe to cross. I don't know if that's across the board in Manchester, but that's –
[00:37:59] RN: I'm not sure about that. Manchester needs –
[00:38:04] LHL: It needs some—
[00:38:05] RN: Needs some help. But it's in a fantastic place right now, though. It has a ton of potential. There's a lot of opportunity there. Manchester kind of feels like it's a little bit of a teenager right now, and it's going through a really big growth phase. But I want to make sure that the voices of the marginalized communities in Manchester are part of that transitional period for the city.
[00:38:30] LHL: I imagine that you’ve connected with/or friends with Amber Nicole Cannan?
[00:38:34] RN: Yes, absolutely. Yes.
[00:38:36] LHL: Oh, wonderful. Yes. Her piece in – there were two exhibits happening at the same time.
[00:38:41] RN: Yes. She was part of the Phaneron show, the –
[00:38:43] LHL: Yes, thank you.
[00:38:44] RN: Illuminating the perception of civil justice through the eyes of the community. She has been doing her cyanotype project for a while. A couple of my pieces are – a couple of my cyanotypes are in there. Also, I really love that project because it's a great participatory interactive kind of art thing. So we had her at Manchester Pride and a couple of other events doing that cyanotype activity.
[00:39:15] SW: That's wonderful. It's so important, and it's really wonderful to see change happening through creativity and through art in that way and people who are propelling it forward even more and calling others to be a part of it. More needs to happen, but it's nice to look back and see what's been done so far.
[00:39:33] RN: Well, this is a great opportunity to talk about Queerlective’s kind of new initiative of bringing art into different aspects of the community. I think it's very interesting because at the same time that we're creating these opportunities for marginalized communities to celebrate around art, I think that there's a lot of opportunity to diversify or change the way that we're consuming art as a community. I think that a lot of the ways that we consume art is art on the wall or music. But I think that there's a lot of opportunity and potential are my favorite words. So if we – yes. Get used to it, people.
Queerlective is working to kind of establish ourselves as a New Hampshire-based hub for what we're calling the New England Teaching Artist Collaborative. So we're working with an organization out of Vermont called Community Engagement Lab. What we are really hoping to do is find novel ways of bringing artists and creative individuals into different sectors, different spaces to utilize their creativity and art for positive social change. When I'm thinking of changing the culture of how we utilize art in New Hampshire, that's kind of what I'm talking about.
A couple of examples, and these are things that I'm kind of taking from other communities in New Hampshire or New England, but Massachusetts recently – well, Massachusetts is testing a CultureRX program where doctors alongside prescribing medicine are able to prescribe art experiences to people as part of their treatment. Stuff like that has been really proven to be really beneficial to creating some positive change for people.
An example is a woman that came in for depression and some other issues. Along with her medicine, she was prescribed an African dance class. She ended up really, really loving that class. It ended up helping her get healthier, but it also – yes. It's just a really exciting way of using art in a different way than we would typically think about using it.
[00:42:00] SW: I love that.
[00:42:02] RN: Murals are always a good way to do that. Kind of what we were talking about with the Waypoint mural. Helping community express themselves through art is a fantastic way. Music therapy is something else I would love to kind of work with different sectors here to bring that in as well. Yes.
[00:42:23] LHL: It's so cool. I'm so excited about everything you're doing.
[00:42:26] RN: Yes. We're doing a lot. I think it's interesting because, typically, the advice you get as a nonprofit organization is to not do too much. But part of the reason we can do so much and we do a lot of things rather successfully is because nobody else is doing it. We're more than happy that to kind of help another organization or an individual fill that space when the time comes.
The tactical urbanism project, that's not something that I started out this year, thinking that I would be spearheading. But there was really an opportunity to ask for money to use art for an environmental justice project. So somebody approached me and was like, “Do you want to work on this?” I was like, “Oh, absolutely.” Something that is really acting as a pilot for these kind of projects in the community. Will Queerlective do more of them? Maybe not. But will it potentially inspire other people in the community to do more projects like that? Potentially. So it's really exciting.
[00:43:39] SW: Well, and there's an exciting thing about being sort of a baby nonprofit. You're still new, where you get to experiment and try different things and figure out. Really hone in on your mission in a way where you play with a bunch of different things and what feels our place and our thing.
[00:43:56] RN: Yes. I would say even now, I still – my engineer part of my brain is trying to optimize and perfect our mission. I’m sure that the rest of the Queerlective team wouldn't be happy to hear that. So our original mission was to create and promote inclusive environments for queer, BIPOC, and other underserved communities with focus on utilizing art for personal and community growth. Very long, I'm the only one that can say it in one breath. I didn't even just do it just then.
[00:44:24] LHL: I was just thinking, “Dang, that's impressive.” I don't think we can just –
[00:44:27] SW: I don't know our mission.
[00:44:28] LHL: We can't say our mission like that.
[00:44:30] SW: I know we have one.
[00:44:31] RN: I was experimenting because a lot of the new initiatives that were coming up with are a little bit more empowerment work. So I was experimenting with empowering individuals and communities to realize social change through art, which is easier to say. Also, now, I'm like, “Okay. But maybe we're actually creating a sense of belonging through community engagement, education, and art.” Also –
[00:45:00] SW: Just put in all of the keywords. So it's empowerment, engagement, art, queer, BIPOC, underserved, opportunity, potential. Did I say community already? Just all of them. You need them all in there. You need –
[00:45:13] RN: Well, it’s –
[00:45:13] LHL: They need to be there twice.
[00:45:15] RN: It’s funny because –
[00:45:16] SW: Word cloud.
[00:45:17] RN: In terms of the community, they don't really have a big question anymore about what Queerlective does. For a lot of people, if there's a space that needs art in it and it's a little queer, get Queerlective. But really the honing on the mission, the reason that we have to do that is for funders because they're still so traditional, and you have to make it so simple. I'm like, “Just give me money. Look at what we're doing.”
[00:45:47] SW: Just give me money and I will –
[00:45:48] RN: Look at what we're doing.
[00:45:49] SW: Do good stuff with it. I promise.
[00:45:50] RN: Legit. But you do have to kind of –
[00:45:53] SW: Walk the walk.
[00:45:54] RN: Walk the walk. Absolutely, absolutely.
[00:45:57] SW: Yes. It's amazing. Listeners, make a donation to Queerlective.
[00:46:02] RN: Yes. Kimball Jenkins is still our fiscal sponsor. Oh, shout out Kimball Jenkins. They're amazing.
[00:46:07] LHL: Yes, they are.
[00:46:07] RN: yes. They’re our fiscal sponsors still. Although by the time this comes out, we might be –
[00:46:14] SW: Who knows?
[00:46:15] RN: Our board is growing very soon.
[00:46:18] LHL: People want to attend things, get involved. Where do they find you? What do they do?
[00:46:23] RN: Social media is the best way to get involved with us. That's kind of our first line in terms of communicating with the general public. But if you want early access to information, join our Discord because our Discord is a lot of times, when I have an idea, I will go to the Discord first and be like, “What do you think of this?” Some really fantastic things have come out of the Discord. Our first time exhibition guide came out of the Discord because there were a lot of people that are, like, “How do I show my art for the first time?”
Jackie Hanson in there, who has a lot of experience, was like, “I'll do it. I'll put together a guide.” I was like, “Okay, we'll pay you.” So we paid her to put together the guide, and it's helped so many people. We have another artist that's working on a first-time market guide as well. I think a lot of stuff will be – a lot more resources like that will be coming out of that. But, yes, our Discord is a great space to connect with the local community, talk with the other artists about art, or just organize your kind of own gathering, and also get first looks at some things that Queerlective is working on.
[00:47:38] LHL: Very cool.
[00:47:39] SW: So cool.
[00:47:39] RN: Then our website is also a great place to get information on us. I try to make sure that is always updated. I do change it around a lot, so don't get surprised if it's a little different. But you can always find relevant information on what we're doing on our website.
[00:47:57] LHL: That's fantastic.
[00:47:58] SW: All right, rapid fire.
[00:48:00] RN: Rapid fire.
[00:48:01] LHL: Time for rapid fire. What other artist has influenced you the most?
[00:48:07] RN: This is interesting. Okay. So I was thinking about what got me started with my cellophane art. It was actually a Korean artist named Seungjin Yang who creates furniture out of balloons. They're really decadent. They're really colorful and gorgeous. His process is blowing up the balloons, sculpting them into furniture, and then covering them in a ton of resin. Make them so you can sit on them.
That is actually how I got started with using resin and cellophane to kind of create a lot of my sculptures. So that is how I got started with, yes, using resin and cellophane was being inspired by him.
[00:48:53] SW: What's the most unique material you've worked with?
[00:49:00] RN: I mean, I do want to say iridescent cellophane. But iridescent cellophane is a little trendy right now. So I don't know if I could say it's that unique. I guess we'll have to go with that, though. I can't think of anything better.
[00:49:19] SW: Favorite Queerlective program to date?
[00:49:22] RN: Probably Manchester Pride. It's such a huge event. It funnels a lot of money to local queer artists but also in terms of the importance of it for community. Everybody, go look at those photos. They're on our website. They will make you cry. It's just the photos are just so amazing. Just remember, everybody in those photos is being poured on because of the torrential downpour, and they're still so happy.
[00:49:53] LHL: That’s amazing.
[00:49:54] SW: What's your favorite color?
[00:49:56] RN: Purple and then pink. I also love green.
[00:50:04] SW: That's exactly how I answered, too. I'm like, “Well, it's a four-way tie.”
[00:50:10] LHL: What's your favorite scent?
[00:50:15] RN: I guess I'll go with garlic. But it has to be garlic from food. There are a number of scents that if they're misplaced, then they're not good. Fish, cheese, garlic. If it's not in the kitchen, it's not –
[00:50:28] LHL: It shouldn't be near my nose. Absolutely.
[00:50:30] SW: Yes, extremely good point. What's your favorite sound?
[00:50:38] RN: I do love – so our townhouse complex is in displaced marshlands, but there are a ton of birds that come back in the spring, and they are so loud in the morning. It's crazy how loud they are, but I love it. I'm like, “What are they talking about? What are you guys chitchatting about? Can I be a part of it?”
[00:51:06] LHL: What's with the neighborhood?
[00:51:11] LHL: Favorite texture to touch.
[00:51:14] RN: Oh, interesting.
[00:51:15] LHL: I know. This was the one we were most excited about.
[00:51:17] SW: We wanted to know what you were going to say.
[00:51:18] LHL: Because you touch so many great textures and you make amazing textures.
[00:51:24] RN: I don't know actually. That's really interesting.
[00:51:27] LHL: Like your necklace.
[00:51:28] RN: Well, I guess I've been fiddling with this necklace and my earrings. So I mean, I guess I do love the cellophane and the beads and, yes, cellophane.
[00:51:41] LHL: Love it.
[00:51:41] RN: Easy.
[00:51:43] SW: Most inspiring location you've traveled to or visited, place you visited.
[00:51:49] RN: This is interesting because now that I participate in art a lot more, when I travel I interact with the space so much differently. I guess Miami was a really cool place that I went to really recently because they have a lot of public art there, and it's really cool. So I'll say Miami for now.
[00:52:13] SW: We talked about that on the episode with either Manny or Cecilia, one of our Positive Street Art parts because Miami does a mural festival every year. So that's why they have so much art which is really cool. You have to go for the festival. You have to listen to both those episodes, get the details because I don't remember which one it was.
[00:52:31] RN: Oh, yes. I think I did listen to those. Also, there's Art Basel in Miami.
[00:52:36] SW: Yes. That’s what they were talking about. Yes.
[00:52:39] RN: Oh, yes. I remember talking to them about that actually.
[00:52:42] SW: Yes. It was really cool.
[00:52:44] LHL: What's the last new thing you've learned?
[00:52:47] RN: The last new thing that I learned was – I can't say that I fully learned it, but I've been using a new graphics programming software called TouchDesigner to create some projection mapping interactive art and to learn. All I'm really saying is I downloaded somebody else's project, and then I tweaked it by following a YouTube video to make it do what I want. So if I had to build something from the ground up, I absolutely could not.
Honestly, that's how it is when you use a lot of softwares. Blender right now, I'm working on a couple of art pieces for our show coming up in January with the New Hampshire Audubon at Massabesic. For those, I don't know if this is cheating, but you can just download 3D models that other people have put up online. Then I tweak them to be what I want. That's kind of similar. I don't actually – and I'm using Blender to do that, which is a free 3D modeling software. I don't know what I'm doing, but I know what I'm doing enough to make it do what I want.
[00:53:58] LHL: Yes. I feel, like, with coding with HTML and stuff, I can read it and I can kind of understand it. But could I create it from the ground up?
[00:54:09] RN: I feel the same way with that, too, because with Queerlective’s website, we use Shopify. They don't give you a lot of freedom with how to modify things. Being an artist and a graphic designer, I'm like, “Let me change the width of this box.” So I have to Google –
[00:54:25] LHL: How to mess with the code.
[00:54:26] RN: Every single time for the tiniest things.
[00:54:29] SW: I don't know. Back in the days of Myspace, we were all junior coders.
[00:54:33] RN: That was funny.
[00:54:35] LHL: Oh, my gosh. Time travel.
[00:54:36] RN: Oh, my gosh.
[00:54:37] SW: The good old days.
[00:54:38] LHL: What was your top eight – no, I'm just kidding.
[00:54:42] SW: Who was your first friend? We already know the answer. It was Tom.
[00:54:44] LHL: Tom.
[00:54:46] SW: Tom was your first friend on MySpace. Clincher question, if you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
[00:54:54] RN: Well, address your mental health is one.
[00:54:58] SW: Very good one.
[00:55:00] RN: Absolutely. I know Brendan also has ADHD because I listened to that, too. So many artists do have ADHD. I absolutely have ADHD, and I also absolutely have social anxiety that I have to take medication for, which is a lot – most people wouldn't know that about me. But it's very interesting because growing up, I always – I would occasionally do some journal entries, and I love reading those. I know some people think they're cringey. But I still love reading them to see what I was like back then.
It’s interesting because some of the stuff that I would talk about textbook social anxiety. Just because of the household I came, grew up in, that was like, “You can't take medication for your mental health,” I didn't get that stuff addressed. It wasn't until I was 30 years old until I got that stuff addressed. That's wild.
[00:55:52] SW: God, I can relate to that.
[00:55:53] RN: But also be more authentic to yourself. That's absolutely something I would want to share with my younger self. But it's interesting because I don't know if you can exactly tell that to somebody always. I wonder if I had to get to the point where I was, to be able to start doing that. So I would love to say that to myself. But, yes, would I listen? Who knows? It takes a long time to figure out who you are. Once you do, the power that you have, oh, my gosh, and the beauty. Oh, my gosh.
[00:56:32] SW: That is sort of the secret second part of the question, which is you can give this advice to your younger self. Would your younger self listen?
[00:56:40] RN: I think my younger self would listen for the mental health thing because I –
[00:56:44] SW: I wouldn't listen to any of my own advice.
[00:56:46] RN: If future you came back and was like, “Start taking Lexapro,” you're like, “What?”
[00:56:51] SW: I'd be like, “LOL. Who are you?”
[00:56:56] RN: Yes. That is – I think I would.
[00:56:57] LHL: I look at this question. It's secretly – what advice are you giving other people?
[00:57:03] SW: To other younger people. Yes.
[00:57:04] RN: Well, both of those. Be authentic and –
[00:57:08] LHL: It's okay.
[00:57:09] RN: Address your mental health.
[00:57:10] LHL: Yes. It's okay to talk about your mental health and keep that stigma away from it, meaning something that has been kind of the rhetoric with the society for many, many years.
[00:57:21] SW: Well, I really appreciate your comment like, “No one would know that I have social anxiety,” because I get that all the time like, “You don't seem depressed.” I'm like, “The pills are working.”
[00:57:33] RN: It’s interesting because I was also thinking about this on my way here. One weird side effect I had from my social anxiety is that I couldn't maintain eye contact with people for a long time. Otherwise, my eyes would start watering. I realized today that hasn't happened. I can't think of the last time that happened. I was like, “I can't – why? I was living with that for so long. Oh, my gosh.”
[00:57:55] SW: Moving up in the world. Oh, my gosh.
[00:57:59] LHL: Wow.
[00:57:59] SW: This is such a good conversation. Thank you so much for coming and being on the podcast.
[00:58:02] RN: Thank you for having me.
[00:58:04] LHL: It really hits all the notes. It’s so great.
[00:58:07] SW: Yes. I think we, to our credit, covered a lot of territory in a small amount of time.
[00:58:12] RN: We did. There was –
[00:58:13] LHL: I know. We could have done a whole episode on Queerlective and a whole episode on your art and probably a whole another episode on –
[00:58:21] SW: Other stuff.
[00:58:21] LHL: Other stuff, authentic self, everything like that. But we appreciate you sharing and being so open with us and with everybody.
[00:58:27] RN: Thank you.
[00:58:28] LHL: The New Hampshire community is better for having you here.
[00:58:32] RN: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It was really special to be here. Thank you so much.
[00:58:38] LHL: With that…
[00:58:39] ALL: Show us your creative guts.
[OUTRO]
[00:58:46] SW: Another huge thank you to Randall for joining us on Creative Guts.
[00:58:50] LHL: Wow. He's just a beacon of light with his art but then with the way he talks. I was just in awe of him the whole time.
[00:59:00] SW: Yes. Me, too. Me, too. Sort of intimidated by how awesome he is but also at ease because of how authentic he is.
[00:59:10] LHL: Yes. I mean, he's a natural-born communicator. I really enjoyed hearing that he does not deal with imposter syndrome any longer.
[00:59:22] SW: I know.
[00:59:23] LHL: That sounds like a monumental thing to aspire to and celebrate because it is so common. So many of us have it, and it’s, I think, really something that I sort of just accept like, “Ha, ha. I'm just going to have it.” To think that I could maybe work through it, I feel talking with him kind of inspired me in that way that I could maybe not have it someday, and that's okay. I feel like there's this almost false humility in having it like, “Oh.” It sucks, and it's really great that he does not have that anymore.
[00:59:56] SW: Well, and it's so wild to think that he only started taking his art seriously two years ago. Queerlective has only been around for a year and a half. That's just kind of mind-blowing.
[01:00:06] LHL: It sounds like he went through a lot to get to where he is. I think New Hampshire is very lucky to have him.
[01:00:13] SW: Yes. I mean, he could change the world. He could change the state. He could – yes.
[01:00:17] LHL: Maybe there's nothing he couldn't do.
[01:00:18] SW: I know. It's amazing, amazing. He's like, “You know, I'm thinking about doing this, or I'm thinking about doing that.” I'm like, “Yes, he's got this.” If there's anybody I believe in to do this stuff, it's totally Queerlective.
[01:00:29] LHL: Oh, Randall. Thank you so much for being on the show and for sharing your light with us. It's just right before recording, to be honest, Sarah and I were talking about some of the more dismal things happening in the world. It's truly wonderful to have folks like you who can turn it around and make me feel hopeful again after watching the news.
[01:00:53] SW: Yes, yes. You're an inspiration. I want to support every single thing that you do. If you want to see Randall's work or you want to learn more about Queerlective, I'm going to send you to strangepieces.com and queerlective.com. Rather than giving you 67 links right now verbally on the air, I'm going to let you fall down the rabbit hole of links yourself. You can find them on Instagram, Facebook, elsewhere on the Interwebs.
[01:01:18] LHL: So check out the links we just mentioned in the episode description and on our website, creativegutspodcast.com. You will find us on Facebook and Instagram @creativegutspodcast.
[01:01:29] SW: This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. Thank you to our friends in Rochester for their support of the show.
[01:01:37] LHL: If you love listening and want to support Creative Guts, you can make a donation. Leave us a review wherever reviewing is applicable. Interact with our content on social media. Whatever you're able to do, we appreciate you.
[01:01:49] SW: Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Creative Guts.
[END]