Agnes St. Amand grew up in rural Opelousas, Louisiana. Her mother worked in a canning factory, her father was a carpenter and all of the children worked to help make ends meet. Throughout her youth, Agnes picked cotton, worked in the family garden and helped with the various chores of running a household. These years taught her the value of hard work and the images of hard working women have stayed with her all of her life. When she began painting, Agnes painted the landscapes of rural Louisiana with barns, shacks, chickens and fences. As she painted more she began painting small figures usually of black women working in the background. The figures became more interesting to her and occupied a more central role in her paintings. The working figures progressed to the point where the landscapes disappeared as she focused on the character, complexity and dignity of her figures. They have progressively grown in scale and now dominate her canvases as she works to capture the subtle beauty of these hard working women.
Painting African American women has become the bulk of her work although she has painted and sold many landscapes and still lifes. Her chosen medium is oil on canvas, masonite and occasionally wood. She has been selling her art since the early 1980's when many of her paintings were sold in conjunction with the New Orleans Worlds Fair to out of state collectors, most notably Lord and Taylors in New York.