My palace in Dallas - Kyle Steed — James Kung Photography

“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

Hello party people, how was your summer? I hope you had a great one no matter how Lana or Brat coded it is. I often feel like whenever I’m writing this new intro, in some ways I’m announcing or facing the reality that it’s the changing of the season and I am that LiveJournal author sending out life updates. This blog turned three years old in 2024 and being profiled by D Magazine for this project was something I never dreamt of starting out, with that I am forever grateful.

I started My Palace in Dallas during the height of the pandemic, and it was born from pure curiosity: I want to know, I want to see, and, most importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after these unprecedented years. They can be artists or comedians, or they can also be the people you meet on the street—which is quite hard cause supposedly people in Dallas don’t walk at all. So, what is it that they do? This project delves into their stories and, as the name suggests, explores their Palace in Dallas.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Kyle Steed. A staple and behemoth of an artist I’ve long loved and admired. It took me a while to find the courage, slide into his DMs, and show up at his show opening. Fast forward to now, I’ve owned an original Kyle Steed piece and am writing about our conversation as we sit down in his lovely home studio enjoying some ginger tea on a sunny afternoon. We talked about his journey, what his passion for art is, and what inspires him - home or art - to be who he is.

Hello Kyle! Thank you for taking the time and giving me the opportunity to meet you in your amazing home! Before I bomb you with questions, would you like to tell people a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do?

My name is Kyle Steed. I’m a father to two beautiful daughters, a painter, and a muralist. I paint things, murals most notably, and enjoy moving paint around on canvas of different sizes. I wasn’t raised around other artists and hence have had to learn how to be an artist by evolving and teaching myself as I navigate my way through life.

I’ve witnessed all your amazing accomplishments as a fan on the side and it’s an honor knowing you now watching it all happen before my own eyes! You’ve done so much with so many here, now, could you tell me what that journey was like for you and how did you get to where you are now?

Slowly. One step at a time. I didn’t set out with a clear plan or end goal. Only the promise to myself to do the best damn work I can and never settle.

In 2012, the dream and sense of longing to work on something more tangible, carving my own path, and having more autonomy in my schedule to explore the ideas I had was worth leaving my job and taking a chance on.

While initially, it wasn’t true for most of the projects I’ve worked on, but over time, as I continued to strip away the thin veneer of my comparing mentality that we all go through in the early stages, slowly and surely my style developed and matured along with the work I make.

It’s very raw to constantly put yourself out there, with moments wondering what and why am I doing this, but somehow so sure that there’s nothing else I’d rather be working on at the same time. Something about being young and naive (we don’t know what we don’t know) that gave me a certain confidence beyond my abilities.

I’ve taken on many forms of creating in the past 12 years, whether it’s photography, design, branding, illustrations, and now thankfully it’s primarily murals and fine art. I’m so overjoyed by the fact that this is my life now. Doing what you love is all about the ability to endure doing what you don’t love for a greater purpose. During these moments where it feels like work it’s still so rewarding and I’m grateful for that.

You took a hiatus from creativity and entered the Air Force in the early years of your life, how did you maintain your creativity under a structure that I would imagine is so strict and far removed from creating anything?

Creating has always been a part of me. It was never a question of if I would create while in the Air Force, only a matter of what. The four years of experience in the Air Force were very formidable and life-changing. I found freedom of expression through photography, journaling, and small paintings. All of which I still hold with fondness when I look back on them.

My decision to join the Air Force was never a long-term one, if any it was more of a lateral jump to get to my next point in life. To me, I always held it loosely and not too seriously. It also didn’t take too much out of me to grasp the regimented mentality, I had a pretty good relationship with an orderly schedule and organized lifestyle even before joining the force. It was more the physical and mental exercises that taught me how strong I am and my ability to overcome.

There were bigger lessons that season of life taught me, like perseverance, believing in myself, and continuing to show up until you move past it. I carry the things I learnt with me having left the force in 2007. I would say the things I went through during my time in the Air Force set precedence for my life since then. As hard as my obstacles may seem, there is always an answer to the problem, sometimes it’s as easy as taking a step back or simply requires sheer grit to see it through.

My favorite part of painting murals is a great example of that, it is tedious by nature, especially with the way I’m using brushes brings in a lot of repetitive motion. It requires patience and determination to see it through but it’s calming and grounding and forces me to pay attention to it. Otherwise, when I lose focus I find I’m more irritated and fixated on my mistakes as a problem to solve rather than a pathway through to something beautiful.

Speaking of murals, knowing instances where you would go back and re-do color palettes or elements in your work after spending some time with it, with murals and canvas being your main mediums now, do you find it harder to do over on walls like how you would with canvas?

Yeah, it feels very different, I feel more open to exploring further when I’m working on a canvas. The constraint of a mural comes from having a client, not only am I satisfying my artistic expression but I’m also making sure their expectations were met. My murals are definitely more refined but currently my process and approach to both murals and fine art are at an interesting intersection.

In the past 12 years of your journey, was there ever a moment when you didn’t think you wanted to do this anymore?

Oh no. Never.

Now generally every year there would be one or two months of freaking out when I think the world is imploding and I’m a has-been needing to find a real job before things turned around, even amidst all that I never once doubted whether this is something I want to do for the rest of my life.

Recently I have thought about in another 10 years when I’m 50 what I’d be doing. I hope I can do some of these but I don’t know if I can do all of them, which means I’m learning to trust other people by bringing them in to support my process. Having a project manager has been really helpful, shout out to Latifah for being a great friend and super helpful in making me more efficient.

And sooner than later I envision having someone to help me with designs or painting would be ideal but I don’t know what that would look like for now. I know what to do with myself but I always had trouble finding tasks or giving off projects to other people if they were here to work under me, or even mentoring. But I think I’ll know when I’m ready.

We are our harshest critics and often don’t tell ourselves good job enough, is there a moment or decision that looking back you would tell past Kyle “Good job” for sticking through or simply for doing it?

I’m not sure if I did this for myself or not at the time but when I remember going full-time freelance and venture out on my own. Even though it was scary, life lessons were thrown at me, uncertainty was everywhere and my daughter was born a year after that, I’m so glad I decided to go for it.

Not to sound cliche but within every job or season, there are lessons to be learned even if you aren’t sure how formidable it is. When things have been slow or have been unbearably difficult, I want to say “good job” to Kyle for not giving up on himself.

Like how you’d be curious about their letterbox account when you meet a film lover or would love to take a peek at someone’s mood board, can you tell me what consists of your media diet and where you usually get your inspiration from?

I can’t keep up with all this content. But I do love Seinfeld. It is the one show that I can watch at least once a day and never tire of it. I’m sure it’ll run its course through me after watching it so often and my taste changes but for now it’s something I really enjoy every day.

The quirks about this house, the greenery around this area, and the accessibility for random walks are all necessary to me. I like to take my walk without headphones often, and fully take in what’s happening around me.

I’m a classic procrastinator and there’s a mantra I really enjoy. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott was something I read, the quote came from her father when she was procrastinating and overwhelmed by a school project about birds. Her father told her to start “bird by bird” and I think as we live life one step at a time among any other analogy we can think of, it’s a good philosophical mentality to go about it.

A few other authors I like are Alan Watts and Ram Dass. Alan Watts leans more into philosophy and Ram Dass focuses more on the spiritual path, I find great relatedness with their work, comforting even.

Naps are so important to me too. There is something so powerful about your lucid dreaming state, if there’s a phrase or image coming my way I could let it pass or respond to it by jolting it down, it doesn’t have to be something fancy or complicated but I could get it out of my subconscious and revisit it later.

I would be very remiss not to mention my bath. Bathtime is a solid ritual I have, I try to take it at least once a day. working with my height it’s not the easiest but I can fit into mine right now if I fold my legs slightly like this. Honestly one of the main things I look for when I travel is to see if I could fit into the bath. *laughs

It’s been four years since the pandemic hit and I’m happy to see both of us rise up and do many incredible things before, during, and after. What did you do to stay centered and sane? Did any of those new habits carry over now that things are back to normal?

In some ways, my life didn’t change that much, and I feel very privileged and grateful to be able to say that.

I do have a 4 and 6-year-old during that time, so amidst navigating their distance learning and keeping them safe, I drew them a lot. We spent a lot of time in the makeshift pool we have in our backyard as well.

If there’s anything I’d like to regain from that time, it was the lack of urgency. There was no pressure to put out work or go anywhere, for others how people respond to it is vastly different but I thought it was comforting as all options were taken away from you.

Walking played a huge role for me during the pandemic. I went on walks for 3-4 miles every morning and have continued doing so whenever I felt a little out of my body.

As an incredible creative yourself pulling inspiration from your life, your surroundings, your family, and your soul, I’m sure you have your fair share of traveling experience and exposure to different art scenes across different cities and scenes. As an artist and as Kyle, what do you think of this city?

I wonder why I’m here often too.

Dallas, with its man-made metroplex, doesn’t have a lot to offer in comparison to other similar size cities but I think the main reason why a lot of us decided to stay here is the people. I know it has had a certain effect on me.

More than anything, to your question, I think there is something in the water here. And for those who choose to come and stay here, you will always find your people and their commitment to their community.

Dallas is a great place for me to become the artist I am today, while I don’t see Dallas as my forever home I feel good about sticking around for at least another decade.

As I look around, I can see a lot of your taste in a tangible form! (and many WIP pieces hehe) I can’t even begin picking out a favorite one so now the hard part is, what would you say is your most prized possession?

The things I most value are hard to put a monetary value on. Take, for instance, all these years of my girls captured on instant film. I don’t think about how much money I’ve spent on film or cameras over the years. I look back at these snapshots and am transported back in time. Watching my girls grow up happens so fast. I am so happy to have all these memories recorded on film and available to look back on with such fondness.

And we are almost to the bottom of my list of Qs for today, for those who are interested in getting into this business or starting something of their own. What suggestions or advice would you like to give them or wish you had known sooner?

Practically speaking, get help with your taxes.

Get someone who knows about taxes, because they do not mess around with you. No matter how weird you think those taxes are, they will find their way to you. If you’re feeling serious about pursuing a career that doesn’t come with a W2, find someone you trust to keep up with the books for you.

Take it easy.

Take things slow for the sake of your own growth. Both personally and professionally. We live in a fast-paced world and it is on us to make space to slow down. As much as I love to hate social media, I use it as a tool, a way to connect, portfolio building, or even to build rapport with others.

Learn from those whose work is so ahead of you and not be discouraged, can you get to know them? if not can you learn from them passively? It’s always worth investing and I encourage you to maybe ask them out for a coffee chat if your social energy allows.

Make really shitty work.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do is make the worst work you can make when no one else is watching. Remember, you don’t have to share everything. Being honest with myself is the one thing I wish I’d known sooner, I’m still learning how to do it myself, does the learning ever stop? Somehow, somewhere, in the midst of making bad work, I started to find my own path.

To wrap this interview up, also because I am curious personally, what’s on the horizon for Kyle? Are there any “Big things coming” in the works for you? What would you like the world (whichever random soul stumbled upon this article) to know about?

I have a few projects in the works right now! The most immediate one is the Great Create at the Nasher Sculpture Center where I will be one of the guest artists for the program! I’m working on another installation for Warby Parker’s SOHO NYC location, it will be installed this Fall and I’m excited to see it complete. I’ll be working on my next body of work for my show in March 2025 at Commerce Gallery.