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.

In 2009, Capshaw began her art studies—drawing, painting, and portraiture. In 2016, she saw a way to use portraiture to bring public awareness to youth homelessness and other issues.

In March 2019, three paintings from the work that began in Los Angeles were selected as finalists 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 on October 29, 2019, in Washington, D.C. It concluded in St. Louis in January 2022.

In February 2023, Capshaw debuted the full Unaccompanied series in her first solo exhibition at the Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University.