Finding Joy: the art and journey of Kelly Steller Hrad
Through layers of color and texture, Kelly transforms personal reflection into paintings that invite connection, resilience, and joy.
The arc of Kelly Steller Hrad’s career is proof that following instinct and creativity can lead not just to art, but to recognition, community, and renewal.
The beginning of a journey
When Kelly Steller Hrad returned to painting after nearly three decades, she wasn’t thinking about galleries, commissions, or building a career. She was looking for a way to process life—grief, unanswered questions, the challenges of moving through her 30s and 40s. A therapist suggested she reconnect with something creative. Kelly picked up a palette knife, and slowly, painting became her sanctuary.
What began as a personal outlet grew into something greater. Each canvas became a quiet journal entry, a conversation between memory and possibility. Layers of paint carried both the heaviness of what she had lived and the spark of joy she was rediscovering. Painting wasn’t just a means of expression—it was a way of remembering herself.
From private practice to public recognition
For years, Kelly’s work existed in the solitude of her studio. Then, in 2015, an unexpected opportunity placed several of her paintings in a gallery window in Dallas’s Bishop Arts District. She recalls the disbelief—“pinch me, is this my life?”—at seeing her work in public for the first time. The experience was a turning point, proof that what had begun as therapy could resonate with others.
From that moment, invitations followed. Regional exhibitions across Texas led to national juried shows in California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, and Virginia. Each opportunity introduced her to new audiences and affirmed that her paintings, born of personal reflection, spoke to something universal.
Corporate commissions soon expanded her reach. Louis Vuitton invited her to create an installation for its Legacy West store in Plano. Lamborghini requested work for its headquarters in Italy. These projects challenged her to adapt her vision to different contexts and audiences while remaining true to her voice as an artist. With each step, Kelly’s career grew—not by design, but by following the doors that opened.
In the studio, Kelly’s process is as tactile as it is visual. The palette knife is central—layering paint into peaks, ridges, and gestures that hold memory and emotion. Each tool becomes an extension of her hand, building a surface that is not only seen but felt, turning canvas into a journal of resilience and rediscovery.
A language in paint
Kelly’s paintings are distinctive for their sculptural texture. Using a palette knife, she builds oil and acrylic in deliberate layers, giving each work a tactile presence. Up close, the ridges and edges resemble handwriting, carrying the weight of personal narrative. From a distance, the surfaces resolve into fields of color that evoke landscapes, emotions, and memory.
Her canvases are rarely monumental in scale, but their intimacy draws viewers in. Fiery reds, grounded earth tones, serene blues, and breathy neutrals form her vocabulary. Texture becomes punctuation. Color becomes voice. The result is a body of work that feels both physical and emotional—art that asks to be seen and felt.
Top left: Mountain Spirit, 20 x 20 inches, 3-dimensional oil. Top right: Healing in Tears, 30 x 24 inches, 3-dimensional oil. Above: Daydream, 24 x 36 inches, 3-dimensional oil.
The spectrum of bold and still
In Finding Joy, Kelly brings together around 65 works that span her journey, including 40 new pieces created for the exhibition. Some paintings arrive loud—full of energy, movement, and color that practically dances from the canvas. Others are soft, quiet, almost meditative. Together, they create a spectrum that mirrors the complexity of life: grief alongside hope, uncertainty alongside clarity, heaviness alongside light.
The collection is not prescriptive. It does not tell viewers what to feel. Instead, it offers space—for reflection, for recognition, for connection. Kelly hopes visitors find something that meets them where they are, whether in the vibrant force of a bold canvas or the calm hush of a still one.
In the Clouds, 36 x 36 inches, 3-dimensional oil
The Clearing, 24 30 inches, 3-dimensional oil
Coral Divide, 36 x 36 inches, 3-dimensional oil
Faith Through the Fire, 24 x 30 inches, 3-dimensional oil
“The ArtCentre provided the space for Kelly’s early steps as a professional artist, and she has since taken that path to remarkable places. Having her back here with the exhibition feels like welcoming home a member of the family.”
What began as a private search for healing has become a body of work that speaks to universal experiences of memory, hope, and joy. Above: Finding Joy, 36 x 24 inches, 3-dimension oil
Art as connection
For Kelly, success is not measured in sales or accolades, though both have followed. It is measured in connection. The conversations sparked when someone sees themselves in her work. The moments when art becomes a bridge between artist and viewer, between individuals, and between people and place.
She believes art is an essential thread in the fabric of community—not decoration, but dialogue. It invites empathy, encourages reflection, and creates shared experience. In that sense, every exhibition is more than a display of work; it is a gathering of stories, emotions, and perspectives. Finding Joy is no exception.
Coming full circle
This exhibition marks Kelly’s third solo show at the ArtCentre of Plano, the space that first gave her a platform in 2018. Returning feels less like a milestone and more like a homecoming. The ArtCentre is where she first understood that her work could live in dialogue with others, and where she now returns with the most personal collection she has ever shared.
Finding Joy is not just a title. It is the throughline of Kelly’s life and art over the past decade. What began as therapy became a career; what began as private reflection became public connection. Now, it returns to the place where her journey began, offered to the community that first embraced her.
Plan your visit
Finding Joy is on view at the ArtCentre of Plano from September 6 through October 18, 2025.
The community is invited to celebrate with Kelly at an artist reception on Saturday, September 6, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
The ArtCentre is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.—a welcoming space to experience her work in person, reflect on the journey behind it, and discover your own moments of connection and joy.