Cherith McKinstry attended Belfast College of Art from 1950 to 1953 and in 1954 won a CEMA travel scholarship to France and Italy. Between 1954 and 1975 she carried out commissions for Queen’s University Presbyterian Students’ Centre, St MacNissi’s Church, Magherahoney, County Antrim and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She won the Fergus O’Ryan Memorial Award at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin in 1966. One of her most notable projects was the completion of six ceiling panels for the Grand Opera House, Belfast which reflected the oriental theme of the original building. In 1987 Cherith McKinstry received an honorary MA from Queen’s University, Belfast.