The Cincinnati, Ohio, artist came from an old Virginia family and was descended from the founder of Newport, Kentucky, Colonel James Taylor. A 1921 “In Society” article in The Cincinnati Enquirer described her as being from “a family so long identified with the highest culture and the most interesting social life of Cincinnati.” Her father, James, was in the U.S. Army, and she was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where he was stationed during Reconstruction.

Miss Van Voast was a painter, etcher and craftsperson. She appeared as early as 1903 in the American Art Annual but seems to have been most active in the 1930s, with exhibitions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati.

She studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy. Among her teachers were Henry Sharp, E. T. Hurley, George Pearse Ennis and Anthony Thieme. She was a member of the Cincinnati Woman's Arts Club and the Cincinnati Professional Artists.