Born Kathleen Isabella Metcalfe in Knock,
Belfast, Ireland in 1899, she was the eldest of three children to Arthur Metcalfe and Phoebe Pringle. Mackie attended
Richmond Lodge, Belfast, and attended Highcliffe School outside Scarborough for a year before going on to study at
Alexandra College, Dublin from 1916 to 1919. In her first year at Alexandra College she came joint first in a competition judged by
Sarah Purser and
Richard Caulfield Orpen in the
Lady Ardilaun Exhibition. She was also selected to design
World War I fundraising posters, which were then displayed in
Amiens Street Station. Mackie then returned to Belfast where she took private lessons with Jessie Douglas at Garfield Chambers on
Royal Avenue. She entered
Belfast School of Art under Alfred Rawlings Baker in 1921 where she remained for two years. Rawlings introduced her to
John Lavery, doyen of the Belfast art scene, and after joining her neighbour
Joseph Carey's 1910 Sketching Club, she met
Frank McKelvey and
Percy French amongst many others. The following year Mackie won both the Taylor Award and a British scholarship, which she was to retain for a further two years. In London Mackie worked under
William Orpen,
Walter Sickert,
George Clausen and
Sir Gerald Kelly. From 1922 until 1947 she showed with the
Watercolour Society of Ireland upon the encouragement of
Eileen Reid, and was also to exhibit less frequently with the
Royal Academy and the
Royal Hibernian Academy. She supported her husband's work for ex-servicemen's charities which gained him a CBE, as well as local causes such as her place on the hospital committee. and continued to fly until she was in her late seventies. Mackie died in at her home in
County Down in 1996. She was survived by her son and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her works can be found in many private collections and in the diploma collection of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts. == Further reading ==