Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryce Holt.
Hi Bryce, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was a kid, I took a field trip to the Nelson-Atkins, and some part of me never left there. I’ve been in love with art ever since. I’ve been a hobbyist artist my entire life. Prior to going full-time as a painter, I was creating stencil art after my wife and daughter went to bed. At 40, my brother and I had the opportunity to make a shift in our careers. I wanted to go full-time as an artist, and he wanted to support and promote that. So that’s what we have done.
I’ve now been painting professionally for 4 years. We have our studio at the Zhou B Art Center, in the 18th and Vine District. Everything I’m doing just feels amazing. I know I needed to do the corporate world to get to where I am, but I’m finally doing what I feel like I was put on this earth to do. And it is so invigorating to see how it affects people emotionally and intellectually. I still feel like I’m just getting started, and what a journey it will be.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Every artist struggles. That’s part of what we sign up for. My entire career has been the entrepreneurial existence, though, so I’m accustomed to it and I look at this as a “start-up.” The early product I was putting out wasn’t as good as we initially thought, but I’ve been powering through, putting in the time, and seeing the improvement.
Starting any new career is a risk, but one as an artist is really risky. Being self-taught is also a risk. It took 2 years just to figure out how to create what I really want to create. But I truly love it with all my being, so putting in the time and effort has never been a chore. I’m living an amazing existence being able to put all my time into creating.
Hard work, dedication, and putting in the hours has given me direction, and it helped me find my style. We still don’t have gallery representation. It’s completely up to my brother and I to get the work seen, to sell paintings, and to open doors for ourselves. All of that work is really paying off, though, and what we have happening right now is exciting.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I create acrylic on canvas paintings. Most of the work I create now is either 48″x36″ or 78″x 48″ in size, so it’s pretty large-scale artwork.
My artwork is narrative figurative art, meaning the driver behind my artwork is story. Not a drop of paint goes on the canvas until I know what story I’m painting. That’s not a problem, though, as I have a list of over 300 paintings and stories I want to create.
I was a creative writing major in college and even wrote a couple of novels in my twenties. So story is something I love, and it’s vitally important to what I do. In nearly every painting there’s something strange, something a little off. I want each piece to be interesting and thought provoking. The painting should establish a visual story before you read the story prompt that we have written to go along with each piece.
Each person can create their own story to go with the artwork, but I’m also going to let them know the story I intended. Is there overlap? Do you like your story or my story or both? Does the story change the way you feel about my painting? I want to tell you a story and take you somewhere with my art.
My paintings are not intended to match your rug. They’re intended to be the focal point of a room. To start conversations. To make people think and wonder, to be interested and to make the places they live and work more interesting.
What are your plans for the future?
We have made amazing strides in the past two years. We’ve had 12 solo shows across Missouri and Kansas, and my work has been in group shows both here in the KC metro, as well as in San Francisco, Fresno, St. Louis, Brownsville, and Wichita. I’ve been recognized and received awards from multiple museums in the last twelve months, and all of that has helped catapult what we’re doing.
We have a solo exhibition called “Unreliable Narrator” that is now showing at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, MO. It’s on display and runs through March 1, 2026. It includes 35 of my paintings along with 15 pieces from the collection my brother and I have been building.
But that’s not all. “Unreliable Narrator” is going on tour for the next two and a half years. After the show at the Daum, it will go to the Museum of the Southwest (Midland, TX from Oct ’26 – Jan ’27), the Gadsden Museum of Art (Gadsden, AL from Feb ’27 – Mar ’27), the Garrett Museum of Art (Garrett, IN from Mar ’27 – May ’27) and the Muscatine Art Center (Muscatine, IA from Oct ’27 – Dec ’27).
I never thought I’d be doing museum solo exhibitions. It’s validating and exciting. We hope this will open opportunities with galleries as well as more museums in both KC and across the country. It’s all unknown, but doors are opening, and we can see the pathway spread out in front of us.
Pricing:
- My artwork sizes are anywhere from 24″x24″ to 78″x48″
- The prices for my artwork varies from $250 to $9500, depending on size and when I created the piece
- You can see all the work at ThePatrons.com
- We love hosting people for studio visits at the Zhou B Art Center. Contact my brother, Kyle, at [email protected] to see any artwork in person that you’re interested in
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ThePatrons.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thepatrons
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThePatrons.Art
