Catherine MacMahon was born in New Orleans, LA and currently lives and works in Dallas, TX. She has undergraduate degrees in both Business Administration and Architectural Interior Design from The University of Texas at Austin. She also has a Masters of Fine Art degree from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where after her first year, she was selected by faculty and staff as the MFA Design recipient for the All-College Award.

After completing her MFA, she moved to New York City. She attended a study tour of Japan with textile scholar and Slow Fiber Studios founder Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada. She has exhibited work at A.I.R. Gallery, Dieu Donne, and The Wassaic Project in New York; Two x Two for AIDS and Art and Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas. She has participated as an artist at The Great Create 2017 as well as in the Gallery Lab Project, both at The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.