A trip to the Nelson sparked an Overland Park man’s love for art. See his work

Bryce Holt embodies the cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Because it’s likely there are a thousand or more words behind each of the Overland Park artist’s pieces of work.

“If a painting doesn’t have a story, I don’t paint it,” Holt said. “I am most interested in stories that relate to people I know or situations I find myself or those I’m closest to in.”

Often he gives his subjects a fictional background.

“In one case, I knew someone who had an incredible stretch of luck — good thing after good thing,” Holt said. “I translated that into one of my best pieces at its time called ‘Lucky Cat,’ about a person who has an invisible ‘Lucky Cat’ they carry around with them as a talisman, only to meet someone else who has a similar good luck charm.”

Another example is a work called “Spiral Galaxy,” which is currently showing at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, Missouri.

“It’s about being in a woman’s sphere who is so brilliant, so amazing and otherworldly that you marvel at being in their presence, the backstory of which was sparked by having one of those singularly amazing moments of many with my wife,” Holt said.

Holt has painted things relevant to current political or national news, human interactions, things he is afraid of, or stories from history that just piqued his interest.

“If it’s interesting or maybe a little strange and a story can spring to my mind from it, it almost certainly will go into the queue,” he said.

His tie to storytelling makes sense. He earned a degree in creative writing from the University of Kansas. His creative outlet in college and early adulthood was writing. He wrote and self-published fiction books.

After college, Holt and his brother Kyle started an e-learning business focused on safety training for career technical students as well as technicians and automotive professionals.

Holt said his brother was “Mr. Outside,” leading the sales and industry relations team, while he was “Mr. Inside,” leading the production and support teams.

But art was always there for Holt, which he traces back to a fateful childhood visit.

“I took a field trip to the Nelson Atkins around the time I was 8 or 9, and after I’d entered, a part of me never left. I’ve loved art deeply ever since,” he said.

While running the e-learning business, Holt continued to be what he called “a hobbyist artist.”

“I did stencil art in my garage at night,” he said. “At that point, art was not a path forward but a creative outlet. I would sell my work for nothing or give it away to close friends, co-workers and family.”

Then, in 2021, the two brothers had the opportunity to change careers again and pursue art full time.

“I told Kyle that this was something I wanted to do, but I wanted to work together,” Holt said.

Holt would paint, and his brother would promote. Together, they established The Patrons.

“Not creating in a silo by myself is maybe the best gift there is,” Holt said. “I often pitch Kyle on whatever idea I have for my next work, and mercifully, he has stopped more bad ideas getting painted than I care to admit.

“We don’t always talk about what I’m going to work on next, but if you’re looking through my library of work and find something more striking than the rest, there’s a high probability that Kyle’s mind was at work there, helping me tweak it. Getting to work with the power of two minds is an incredible gift.”

Holt creates his work using acrylics on large canvas.

He has completed 325 paintings, but has ideas for close to 250 more.

“As we are beginning to see museums and collectors react to my art, what work is resonating with them and what it will take to make that next big leap, the focus for us is twofold,” he said.

First, Holt hopes to increase the footprint of his work as well as shifting the focus from quantity to quality.

“ I spend more time on the detail of the work than I’ve ever spent because that’s where you see people’s faces light up and their fingers point at what I want them to point,” Holt said.

“Equally, while this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life, I’m beginning to think a little more about legacy. What pieces will matter in the oeuvre,” Holt said.

“We’ve begun holding back a spectacular work of art here and there knowing that Kyle and I both want our children to have work from this era that others will see but only they can have.”