Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Wheeler III.
Hi Joseph, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
So I am born and raised, a true ATLien! In a time when there are debates over what and who is real ATL – I AM. I am a Piedmont Hospital born to my wonderful, supportive, still together parents. I am a SW Atlanta APS- Atlanta Public Schools educated graduate of B.E. Mays High School. I am an Atlanta Arts Ambassador. I am a long-time fixture in Atlanta’s Arts community. I did my foundation year education at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and finished my BFA at Atlanta College of Art (which has long since been absorbed into SCAD ATL). Once upon a time, I was an arts educator teaching kids to teens and later seniors at multiple community centers around metro Atlanta. After being only known as a visual artist (drawer, painter, sculptor, photographer, and more) I established the Popular Arts comicon known as ONYXCON at SW Arts Center in 2009! We are now in our 14th year with strictly online content between Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube – follow and Subscribe @ONYXCON! I became an actor, writer, and producer in the Hollywood of the South in 2014. I never looked back so to speak and I am currently on various well-known film/tv sets weekly and have had tons of experience as a background actor, stand-in in Hollywood films/Tv along with three personal indie shorts films/commercials and 5 indy films/series/shorts. Add all of this with hundreds of interviews, shows, and exclusives directly on ONYXCON’s YouTube!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Since film has been the most recent trek, I will first address that. ATL has SO MUCH TALENT! By ourselves without implants – WE HAVE TALENT. Add in the constant flow of talents from domestic and international newcomers and ATLANTA HAS MEGA TALENTS! I capitalize that because even though Hollywood is here they sleep on US. Not totally but far too often. My regular statement, quote me, is that ‘The Bees are here in ATL but the hive is still in LA’. And so for now over a decade with tax breaks and tons of support for the always expanding film business, Atlanta’s talents are still fighting gatekeeper culture in this Hollywood South that will pull talent from Los Angeles and New York rather than right here! That needs to change. Immediately. But it will ultimately be a huge wakeup call reflective of what happened in the music biz in Atlanta and particularly what happened with HipHop music business in Atlanta. Andre 3000 told the world at the 1995 Source Music Awards ‘ The South Got Something to Say, and that’s all I got to say!’ That was the 90s. It’s 2022 and ATLANTA STILL INFLUENCES EVERYTHING! The same thing is going to happen with the film business. Mark my words. We need speaking roles, WE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY, with all of this local talent. Point blank period.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Naturally, I am most proud of ONYXCON. I will always as an individual be an Artist. ART was not a chosen path for me- The Arts are my destiny, my purpose, and my legacy. In 2020 ONYXCON was restructured and in the think thank of quarantines, I decided to rebrand ONYXCON. @ONYXCON is the ‘Comicon’ forever but is also now @ONYXCONoutdoors and @ONYXCONfitness. ONYXCON Outdoors is a part of our platforms to encourage people to understand we are all part of the rest of nature and to stay active in outdoor rec activities to seek daily/weekly/whenever possible balance. For me, it is Hiking and Fishing – both have always fueled and influenced my Arts. It’s my gift to fans, new and old of ONYXCON to try these and other new things. This Covid situation, to me, held a mirror to the world and especially America, to realize that many of us are not healthy or healthy enough to survive a pandemic. And it is still in full effect. Having outdoor/natural activities away from our constant use of technology, the phones, the TV, etc. is not a choice – it’s survival tactic. And ‘Fitness’ is far more than hitting the gym and looking good. It is being mind (Mental health), body, and soul fit. We have to recenter. Artist and those who love the Arts can get edutainment based relayed post and original content on these and more creative lifestyle content from ONYXCON.
How do you define success?
Success is becoming aware of your PURPOSE and fulfilling your destiny with the discipline to endure all challenges and leave a LEGACY.
Specifically in 2022 – Success is completing a proof of concept film for ONYXCON Films entitled BIGGITY: What is it!?! this was filmed in a day and took years to piece together the nerve and talent to make it happen. Regardless of low to no budget level issues in production, I pulled it all together and I am extremely proud of this work.
It is a creature feature about a seasonal autumn creature that haunts deep woods on the outskirts of Atlanta where a senior couple that knows about the beast try to keep outsiders at bay from sure fatal peril!
Pricing:
- We currently have ONYXCON FISHING TOURNAMENT Jerseys available with cost between $150 to heaviest weighted garments $275
Contact Info:
- Email: ONYXCON@gmail.com
- Website: ONYXCON.com
- Instagram: @ONYXCON
- Facebook: @ONYXCON
- Twitter: @ONYXCONtruth
- Youtube: ONYXCON
Image Credits
All images copyright Joseph R Wheeler III / ONYXCON ©2022 -∞
