Katherine McDonagh is a Massachusetts local and currently studying English and Studio Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her creative work, which spans across many genres—including fiction, poetry, narrative nonfiction and visual art—focuses on themes of family history, the interconnected nature of language, and the ways in which we communicate with one another and the past. Primarily a portrait painter, she also works in pastels, ink, and digital media.

Past commissions include the poster for BAFTA-longlisted short film “Punch-Drunk” and a series of illustrations for the S.O. Conte Research Center. Commission information can be found here.

She is a licensed vendor for UMass and six of her print designs can be found in the UMass Store.

She is the recipient of the Robert D. Gordon ’48 and Nancy M. Gordon ’49 Scholarship in the Fine Arts and the Class of 1940 Poetry Prize at UMass Amherst. Her writing has previously been published in Jabberwocky, the UMass undergraduate literary journal, where she serves as a managing editor for the 2027 edition.