Kinkade is often inspired by the natural world when she travels, resulting in an increased interest in landscape paintings. This painting captures a sunset in Big Sky, Mont. (Katie Kinkade)

The confidence Kinkade has surrounding her art did not come from nowhere. After years of learning from art teacher Jesse Herndon, Kinkade has put in immense effort into improving her art skills. 

“We work to exhaustion but still love it,” Herndon said. “Art isn’t a worksheet that, when it’s done, it’s done. When we show our work to others, it really looks amazing, and folks say, ‘You’re so talented; how’d y’all do that,’ but in actuality, we just put in an 80-hour work week.”

Kinkade has developed the skills to express herself through her art. After four years of art classes, Herndon has provided her with the tools to improve. Her desire to grow has led to her style becoming more dynamic, which will only continue to develop throughout her life as an artist. 

“I think Katie already had the wants and desires to express like we all do, but I really tried to equip her,” Herndon said. “I think styles can change over the lifetime of an artist, but every day she is becoming more versatile.”

Rather than a typical AP exam, AP Drawing requires students to build a portfolio of works to submit to the College Board. Students pick a theme to portray through artwork over the course of a year. Thanks to her extensive travel experience, including providing medical relief to remote communities in the Peruvian Andes, Kinkade’s portfolio is focused on the global community. 

“I’ve begun to focus on more of the personal aspect of [my] idea that we are all, as people, connected through common experiences,” Kinkade said. “My experiences traveling and growing up in the digital age have allowed me to see a vast amount of culture across the globe and have made me realize humans all over the world do extremely similar things despite being continents apart.”