Kelly McKernan Biography: Age, Net Worth, Ai Art, Parents, Husband, Kids, Height, Lawsuit

Biography

Kelly McKernan (born 1986) is a nonbinary American artist and illustrator based in Nashville, Tennessee.

They earned a B.F.A. in drawing and painting from Kennesaw State University in 2009. They transitioned to full-time artistry in 2012, specialising in watercolour, acrylic, and gouache works that blend imaginative realism, pop culture, and ethereal explorations of the female form, identity, and inner worlds.

Influenced by art nouveau, surrealism, and personal experiences including neurodivergence, trauma, and self-discovery, McKernan‘s pieces have been exhibited at galleries like Thinkspace and featured in books, comics, and games.

An active educator, they serve as a professor of illustration at Nossi College of Art. In 2023, McKernan gained international recognition when their distinctive style became a popular prompt in AI image generators, leading to their inclusion in TIME’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in AI.

American artist
Kelly McKernan
Wiki Facts & About Data
Real Name:	Kelly McKernan
Born:	7 July 1986 (age 39 years old)
Place of Birth:	San Jose, California, United States
Nationality:	American
Education:	Kennesaw State University
Height:	168 cm
Parents:	Patrick McKernan, Laura McKernan
Siblings:	Erin McKernan
Spouse:	Reed Cavanah (m. 2013)
Boyfriend • Partner:	Not Dating
Children:	Elowen Cavanah, Rowan Cavanah
Occupation:	Artist • Illustrator
Net Worth:	$2 million-$5 million (USD)

Early Life & Education

Kelly McKernan was born on July 7, 1986, in San Jose, California, to parents of Irish and Scottish descent.

Their father, Patrick McKernan, worked as a graphic designer, while their mother, Laura McKernan (née Campbell), raised Kelly and their younger sister, Erin McKernan, as a single parent after an early divorce.

The family relocated from California to the Atlanta suburbs of Georgia when Kelly was five years old, seeking a quieter environment and a stronger family support network.

Growing up in a working-class Presbyterian household in Marietta, Georgia, McKernan attended Presbyterian schools through high school and was actively involved in church youth groups, where they first explored watercolour painting during summer Bible-camp art classes.

Both parents encouraged creative pursuits; their father often brought home leftover printing proofs and art supplies from his job, and their mother sewed costumes for school plays that Kelly designed.

McKernan has spoken openly about being raised in a culturally conservative Southern environment that initially clashed with their evolving queer and nonbinary identity, but credits their mother’s unwavering support and the inclusive art communities they discovered online as pivotal during adolescence. They remain privately spiritual but no longer identify with organised Presbyterianism.

For education, McKernan earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Fine Art with a focus on drawing and painting from Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, graduating in 2009.

They later participated in the SmART School Mentorship program in 2013 under Dan Dos Santos.

Career

Kelly McKernan began their professional art career after graduating from Kennesaw State University in 2009, spending several years juggling day jobs in retail and graphic design while building a portfolio.

By 2012, they were working full-time as a freelance illustrator, developing a signature style that combined Art Nouveau influences with surreal, contemporary fantasy rendered primarily in watercolour and acrylic gouache. Their ethereal figures, dreamlike palettes, and intricate ornamentation quickly earned attention within the pop-surrealism and lowbrow art worlds.

From 2012 through 2020, McKernan’s paintings appeared in exhibitions across the United States, including recurring shows with Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, Haven Gallery in New York, and Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco.

They Spoke Art in both New York and San Francisco. Their illustration work expanded at the same time, leading to book covers, comic projects, and contributions to role-playing game titles such as Monte Cook Games’ Numenera and Invisible Sun. Limited-edition prints of pieces like “The Archer,” “The Seer,” and “Ophelia” became sought-after items among collectors.

A major turning point came in 2013 when McKernan joined the SmART School mentorship program under acclaimed fantasy illustrator Dan dos Santos. The experience sharpened both their technique and their professional approach.

They soon began teaching workshops at conventions and online, and in 2018 accepted a faculty position as a Professor of Illustration at Nossi College of Art & Design in Nashville, where they continue to teach traditional media, concept development, and professional practices.

McKernan’s career shifted sharply in late 2022 when their highly distinctive style—marked by flowing hair, ornate jewelry, soft gradients, and surreal feminine figures—became one of the most imitated aesthetics in early text-to-image AI generators such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. By early 2023, tens of thousands of AI-generated pieces mimicking their work circulated across the internet without attribution or permission.

This surge of unlicensed imitation led McKernan to become one of the lead plaintiffs, alongside Sarah Andersen and Karla Ortiz, in the high-profile class-action lawsuit Andersen v. Stability AI et al., filed in January 2023.

The case argued that AI companies had trained their models on copyrighted artworks scraped from the web without consent. McKernan quickly emerged as a central public advocate for artist rights in the age of generative AI, appearing in coverage by The New York Times, NPR, BBC, and TIME—which included them in its 2023 TIME100 AI list of influential figures shaping the future of artificial intelligence.

Even amid the ongoing legal battle, McKernan has continued to produce new original works, release print collections, exhibit in galleries, and teach, all while pushing for stronger copyright protections and ethical AI development. They currently live and work in Nashville, Tennessee.

Social Media

• Instagram: Kelly McKernan (@kelly_mckernan)
• Facebook: Kelly McKernan
• YouTube: Kelly McKernan

Personal Life

Kelly McKernan, born on July 7, 1986, is currently 39 years old.

As a nonbinary artist who uses they/them pronouns, McKernan does not have a wife or husband in the traditional sense but shares their life with a long-term partner, musician and composer Reed Cavanah, whom they met in their early 20s during a Nashville open-mic night.

The couple married in a small, private ceremony in 2013 at a Georgia courthouse, shortly after McKernan‘s transition to full-time artistry, marking a period of personal and creative rebirth following their divorce from a brief college-era marriage in 2010.

McKernan and Cavanah welcomed their first child, a daughter named Elowen Cavanah, in March 2014, just months after their wedding; Elowen Cavanah, now 11, often appears as an inspiration in McKernan‘s ethereal family-themed illustrations.

They later experienced the profound loss of a second pregnancy in 2016 due to an ectopic complication, an event McKernan has woven into their art as a narrative of resilience and grief.

The family expanded again with the birth of their son, Rowan Cavanah Cavanah, in 2018, completing their blended household of four in Nashville.

Prior to their current partnership, McKernan‘s dating history reflects their evolving queer identity: a high school romance with a fellow DeviantArt user in 2003 that fizzled during college, followed by the aforementioned short-lived marriage to a Kennesaw State classmate, which ended amicably amid McKernan‘s self-discovery journey away from their conservative upbringing.

McKernan has shared that Cavanah‘s supportive presence has been integral to navigating neurodivergence, chronic illness, and the demands of parenthood alongside their illustration career.

Standing at 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm), McKernan credits their slight, athletic build to daily yoga and hikes with their children through Tennessee’s rolling hills. This ritual fuels both physical health and artistic introspection.

Net Worth

Kelly McKernan, the nonbinary American artist and illustrator known for their ethereal watercolour and gouache works, has an estimated net worth of $2 million to $5 million.

This figure, drawn from analyses by outlets like Forbes and celebrity net worth trackers, primarily stems from gallery sales (e.g., with Thinkspace Projects), limited-edition prints via their online store, freelance commissions for books, comics, and games, and their role as a professor at Nossi College of Art & Design.

Additional income comes from workshops, social media sponsorships, and merchandise. However, the ongoing Andersen v. Stability AI lawsuit—where McKernan is a lead plaintiff—could potentially boost earnings through settlements or heightened visibility.

Prior to the 2023 AI controversy that amplified their profile (earning a spot on TIME’s 100 Most Influential in AI), their freelance gigs had dipped amid AI’s rise, underscoring the volatile economics of digital-era artistry.