Steven went to The Maryland Institute, College of Art, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where he graduated with a degree in painting, 1976. It was a great education—he loved being in a close-knit art community, experimenting and learning in depth many art disciplines. After graduation, he headed west and ended up in another art community, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Boone began working in portraiture and in 1986, opened a studio to sell his paintings. Later, he owned the first Steven Boone Gallery. Eventually, the name changed to Elán, and he had taken a partner.
In 1997, Boone's oldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer, and he sold his gallery to devote himself to her healing. She died in 1999 and Steven wrote a book about their journey together. Called A Heart Traced in Sand, it won several awards.
In 2011, Boone opened the second Steven Boone Gallery on Canyon Road. It stayed open three years. He then traveled out of the USA, to Africa and Europe, and around the world for a second time, continuing to paint, photograph and write. In 2015 and 2016 he opened a "pop-up" Boone Gallery on Santa Fe's historic plaza.
Boone's work is in many private collections across the United States, also in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. Boone paintings are part of the permanent collection of The Foundation Van Gogh, in Arles, France, and the United States Department of Interior. Various of his works have been used for magazine and book covers.
Steven married artist Amy Córdova in October of 2018. In March, 2021, Amy and Steven closed their gallery in Santa Fe and left the United States to live in Oaxaca, Mexico.