Kate Capshaw (b. 1953, Fort Worth, Texas) was raised in Ferguson, Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri–Columbia receiving a B.A. in Education and a Master of Education in Special Education in 1976, after which she taught for two years. She set up primary and secondary Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students with learning differences in the rural consolidated district of Southern Boone County.

Capshaw began her art studies in drawing, painting, and portraiture in 2009. In 2016, she saw a way to use portraiture to bring public awareness to youth homelessness. The work received critical attention in 2019 when Capshaw was selected as a finalist in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s prestigious juried triennial: the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

Following their selection, the portraits debuted in the exhibition The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today. The national tour opened at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in October 2019, in Washington, D.C. It concluded at the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis in January 2022. Since 2023, the series has toured as a solo exhibition to the Bo Bartlett Gallery at Columbus State University (February 2023) and Henry Street Settlement in New York City (November 2023). Two portraits featuring Henry Street community members were featured at The Park Avenue Armory (November 2023) and the New York Academy of Art (January 2024). A new painting and a photography-based work featuring a third-generation Floridian barber and the young children transformed by his haircuts debuted at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in December 2024.