"I became an artist in New York City. I couldn't wait to finish school before diving into the art world. I steeped myself in the galleries and museums and artist's studios that I visited. Making art, showing it, looking at the work of other artists and having endless conversations about art, all contributed to my growth as an artist. That is why I say that I am an artist that teaches, not a teacher who makes art. I want my students to step into art as deeply as they want to. I will be there to support and encourage them and hopefully to help them stand in awe as I have stood so often."

Kathy earned a B.F.A. from State University of New York. She has also studied fresco painting in Italy.

Her work has been represented and shown in one-person exhibitions both in New York galleries, including the Pamela Auchincloss Gallery and the Virginia Zabriskie Gallery, as well as in museums such as the Contemporary Museum (Honolulu), the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Hyde Collection, the Lannan Museum, the Maier Museum of Art, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Her work has been included in over one hundred group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Her work is in the collections of American museums including the Ackland Art Museum, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Contemporary Museum (Honolulu, Hawaii), the Grey Art Gallery (New York University), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Kathy has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and she was awarded a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 1988.