Katherine MacDonald has been a figurative painter since receiving her B.F.A. from Mount Allison University. Her work deals with the intimate nature of seeing, grounded in the artist’s vision of the world around her. She uses a range of drawing and painting media – oil, watercolour, chalk, pencil – and has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the McMaster Museum of Art. She is represented in private and public collections in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.  

MacDonald has had a long career as an arts educator. At DVSA, she currently teaches portrait and drawing at the museum and has also taught drawing, figure drawing, painting and watercolour.  MacDonad served as faculty in the department of Illustration at Sheridan College for 27 years.   

As a public speaker, she has lectured on topics related to the portrait tradition, contemporary portraiture and aspects of Canadian art. She has also curated exhibitions of private press books and prints, individual artists, and is currently collaborating with the Art Gallery of Hamilton on a show that addresses the work of collection building.