This is the inaugural installment of a new FUSE Feature, the Art Takeover. We turn over these pages to a local visual artist, to highlight their work and tell us a little about it. In this first chapter, we asked Derrick Holt III to do a FUSE Art Takeover.
My name is Derrick Holt III or known as Third Artistry. I am a visual artist born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas. I've been practicing visual art from the start of a very young age. Art plays an essential role for me in self-expression when it comes to releasing my thoughts, feelings, or views in my life.
When looking through my art, you will see it can vary from landscapes, portraitures, and animal drawings or paintings. My style of art can be categorized as realism or combining abstract and realism together in a single piece of artwork. I strive to leave the viewer with a sense of wonder and imagination utilizing essential artistic elements. My interest in art started with graphite as well as charcoal drawings. Memories of drawing my favorite video game and TV show characters as a child for my family and friends are some of my favorite childhood moments.
In later years, I developed a skill for realistic drawing through advanced art classes in school. Taking the skills I learned, I started to create more intricate detailed sketches and drawings. It wasn't until I sold a sketch I did of the Wichita Falls waterfall to the mayor, Stephen Santellana of Wichita Falls, did I think I could take my art a little more seriously. Furthermore, my choice of medium to use for painting is oil paints. Before I started using oil paints, I would use acrylics and watercolors. But I found it much easier with oil paints to achieve the quality of work I want. In recent years, I've expanded my choice of medium to spray painting on large stretch canvases. Spray painting on canvases had sequentially encouraged me to start creating murals.
This year in 2023 I created my first mural of my blue and gold macaw named 'Pauco' at the Humane Society in Wichita Falls, located on Old Iowa Park Road. In all, I consider visual art to have an important part in the human life experience. It has the power to enrich our lives, encourage creativity and critical thinking along with so much more. Overall, visual artists contribute to the enhancement and diversity of human expression, while also offering unique perspectives and creating visual experiences that inspire, challenge, and engage audiences.
To find more of my art, ThirdArtistry on most social media websites such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and more.
Are you a visual artist who’d like to do a FUSE Art Takeover? We’d love to host your work! Email Troy at fallstownfuse@gmail.com
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What a great article! Can't wait to see more from other artists!