My Palace in Dallas: Kelsey Heimerman

Kelsey sitting in her amazing home - 2021

“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

As the world starts getting back to normal as time progresses, I continue to wonder, what have I accomplished last year? Aside from all these things that helped that endless void in my heart, I’d like to believe I came out of this quarantine experience stronger and being able to appreciate the chance for total solitude.

This is the exact idea that gave birth to this project, I want to know, I want to see, more importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after this unprecedented year, they can be artists, comedians and they can also be the people you meet daily on the street (which is quite hard cause apparently people in Dallas don’t walk at all). What is it that they do? What are their stories and what does their Palace in Dallas look like?

Without further ado, allow me to introduce to you, Kelsey Heimerman! She is not only an old friend but also one of the most talented artists I know. She makes art across mediums and always has a unique way of storytelling, with a great eye for color and details. I’ve been to her place a few times myself and the works displayed there and her unique style are not only on the interior but also her lifestyle has always been fascinating to me. Please take your time to read what we talked about over tea and laughter with Bella (The best jack russel ever).

Hi Kelsey, how are you! Looking amazing as always! Love the new hairdo! First of all, thank you so much for having the time to sit down with me, Biggest congrats on the open studio event as well! Before we begin, would you mind telling everyone who you are?

I am Kelesy Anne Heimerman, and I’m an oil painter based in Dallas, Tx. My work also expands in the meta verse and in that world, I go by the name Kelky.

So is it Kelsey in oil painting and Kelky in digital?

Yeah, kind of! I wanted a pseudonym in the digital art world because of the culture it represents. I wanted to have ambiguity with my identity to really open up my creative freedoms, like Banksy and how free he is because nobody really knows his true identity but that also allows a great amount of creative freedom in his works. I won’t be as anonymous as he is, but the concept is similar.

The name started out a couple of years ago as a quirky nickname among close friends and it began to slowly bleed into the brand. I like to introduce myself as Kelky because it’s more memorable than Kelsey, and that allows for an immediate connection to be made. That’s what this business is all about, connections.

When I met you, I didn’t realize back then that you were already a pretty well-established artist, but I could only imagine it being a really cool journey! Would you mind sharing your story on how do you got to where you are now?

I’ve been painting my whole life and that is a really important thing to know, I have a really artistic family, my mom is a glassblower, and my dad is a carpenter. I grew up in a really DIY household. We made everything from scratch, whether it was cooking in the kitchen or the house that my dad built with his own hands, we always had art supplies in our house and that’s just how we lived and something I grew up with. I realized I was talented in art when I was in high school I started having sleepovers. I would ask the other families, “Where are your art rooms?”, they would respond, “what are you talking about? “ My family and I didn’t watch much TV, instead we played outside, and we make art. It was really important early on to be in that kind of artistic environment.

I went to school for a little bit studying painting and drawing academically, at the end of the program I had a chance to open a small coffee shop with a business partner of mine. Throughout that time I was always painting on the side and paying my way through school, so painting has been a consistent thread in my life. I always found some way of making oil paintings. I’ve been painting in oil since I was 11 years old, I remember the set of oil paints my mother gave me, and ever since then, I never looked back. I always painted in oil after that.

Creating the coffee shop in my early 20’s thought me how to run a business and people skills. When I left the shop and a relationship that had turned quickly sour, I came to Dallas with $2,8000 and moved into a studio. I created a pop-up coffee shop here in Dallas for nine months which also didn’t make a lot of money, but it paid the bills. Then I quit and decided I was going to paint full time, finally. Every month I would sell a painting to someone that I met. It could be someone in the building, a family member, a friend of a friend, or just some random person from taking a yoga class or walking my dog in the park, these people serendipitously came into my life and paid my rent and bills by being out in the world doing healthy things that I love.

I took it as a sign for me to keep going and keep striving for this dream I had in my head to become a great painter. After painting for 9 months, I had created enough works for two simultaneous exhibitions, it was basically my life’s work on the line. It was really the make-or-break moment for me.

Both shows went on for 30 days and nothing had sold… I was freaking out, on my knees in the studio crying and praying to whatever god I believed in at the time to allow something to come into my life to help me continue to be the artist I wanted to be. The next day I was walking through the Janette Kennedy Gallery in yoga pants, ordering pizza and fetching the phone charger I left in that gallery. There was this guy in there standing in front of my biggest painting, 12 x 6 feet and it was expensive because it took me 6 months to complete it. “Hey are you the artist?” he asked, “Yeah I am”. He said he wanted to buy the big painting and that he would call me tomorrow. I thought he is not going to call me… so many people in my life wanted to buy this piece but backed out. It happens all the time in this industry, I am in the business of selling luxury things, and people window shop and drop you all the time.

That guy call me the next day and ended up buying 16 out of the 20 paintings in that gallery and it CHANGED MY LIFE James. The money was enough for me to live another year happily. It was my first leg up, and things fell into place a lot more easily after that.

**Can I say you didn’t let your days studying art academically affect your way of creating?**

I wouldn’t say it was like that. For me studying in school was interesting but it wasn’t what I thought it would be like. It was a lot of critiques and making a lot of work but what really helped me to where I am now is owning that coffee shop. That was where I learned how to balance the budget how to get prepared for next year and it really gave me a boost in confidence in talking to people.
I used to be shy in my early 20s, and as an artist, you are constantly explaining yourself. Being a business owner in my community helped me gain purpose and respect.

Are you a Dallas local? How do you feel about this city?

I like Dallas, it has always been super kind to my career which I am really grateful for. My mother lives here which is one of the reasons. I like having access to big, awesome studios, and Texas can offer that. I create large-scale works at times, so having a few thousand square feet at a great price has been important for me to make the work I want to make.

I ended up slowly watering my roots here, with a little bit of hesitation. If there’s one thing I don’t like about Dallas is the lack of nature. That’s why I travel so often. Dallas is really central, I love how we are close to the Caribbean, we are right in the center of the country. We have sacred ground here if you look deeper into the native American culture. Texas is big, wide-open, we have an enormous sky… I appreciate it more every time I leave and come home.

I’m sure there are places that want your talent and extraordinary skills along with passion in art everywhere, in your opinion, what makes Dallas stand out among all the other cities? Is there something special about the painting/art scene in Dallas?

I think our special quality is our location, we really central in the country and we still get people coming in from LA and New York. . We have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, there is a lot of start-up companies and people who are into investing and growing who they are and I think there is just something to that that allows us to grow stronger together. I’m not washed out here, I can feel like I am actually making a name for myself, and with the internet, it's only a matter of time before I really breakthrough.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Are there any daily rituals or certain moments/things that inspire you the most?

My biggest inspiration was the idea of an inner world, so the last couple of years I’ve really been through a lot of wholistic practices such as meditations, and plant medicines to explore my inner landscape. I would describe my art as visionary and it also references a multitude of art histories specifically the ancient cultures like the Mayans, the Egyptians, Oltecs, as well as spiritual practices across the globe. I tap into the multitude of religions and study iconography.

We are in a global world right now, when you investigate our art history it’s segmented… there’s the African, Asian, European, Oceanic and you have all these different movements throughout our time period. So, it’s separated geographically and through time periods. With the internet and our phones, the whole world just came together. So, when I think about oil painting, which is a traditional medium…I want to leave something behind that is a symbol of our time right now. I take all these inner landscapes and cultural symbols and slam them together into one field. My work has this positivity to it, a light massage on the unity of people and the open global vision of the world. I believe I am here on this earth to be a light and I try to make my paintings reflect that light as best as I can.

Would you say meditation is a big part of your day-to-day ritual because it allows you to tap into your inner mind which is also where you drew your inspiration from?

I have a daily meditation practice because it helps me stay balanced in life, and for me, meditation isn’t just sitting there with my eyes closed listening to a guided meditation. Sometimes it would be coming back from the grocery store seeing a homeless guy on the street, making an offering, or having a moment of gratitude. The practice of observing my thoughts through meditation helps me to have more conscious actions in life.

Obviously, 2020 has been a hard year for everyone, take me for example I had several sobbing episodes under my own crappy Ikea work desk during last year. What I want to know is, while being camped up together in this house, how did you manage to stay happy or, remotely not sad?

I feel guilty saying this because I know so many people had such a hard time but the pandemic has been really easy for me, I’m an introverted person and have worked and lived in my own space for about 8 years.

I’m not a huge partier and I don’t really like a big masses of people, I prefer the genuine connection between a few friends and I feel like going to each other’s homes while being safe instead of all these events was a good change of pace. I feel like before the pandemic the world was moving so fast and I couldn’t keep up with this insane merry go around.

My day-to-day schedule was already really different from others because of the nature of my work and there were friends I could only call after 6 o’clock or on the weekends because they have their life and family to attend to. So, when things shut down, I would have friends calling me at 11 am as I was painting at my easel and we could facetime for an hour.

I know there is a lot of loss and devastation, a lot of families struggled and mental health issues are skyrocketing. My heart really does go out to all those people, and you will see it pop up in the oil paintings now and again.

For artists like me, I think as people began to stay inside of their spaces more… they wanted to reinvent their space by collecting artwork. I was really lucky…fortunately, and unfortunately, my clients were not so heavily impacted by the pandemic 2020.

You have a really amazing looking place and really the layout was just how I’ve dreamt for mine! Could you show me your favorite or, what is your favorite/prized possession here?

The door is really important for me because if it wasn’t for this people would not be coming in and out as they please and it is where everything comes and goes! Jokes aside this mantra that I keep on my front door it was really important… is how I’ve lived my life for the last year. “Everything I have I already need”.

My favorite possession in here would be the sculpture by this artist that just recently passed

away. I went to his studio in Florence when my sister used to deal some of his work in Italy. It’s a small clay work by Bruno Gamboni, a howling dog with a funny tail. I also own a Jerome Witkin painting which I adore and have a Robert Weiss oil on Linen on loan, that is so beautiful to look at. Living around great art really affects your life. The things begin to talk back to you.

Before we wrap this up, is there any advice you would like to give to those who are curious about getting into this industry? Or is there anything you wished you could’ve known that you wanna tell your past self?

Be kind, you never know what someone else is going though. Follow your dreams, and live your life… we don’t live forever… so don’t wait to see the world or to help others… yourself included.