Kathleen Henderson was born in Boston, and received her BFA in painting from Boston University and her MFA from Queens College in 1986. Her works have shown at Paule Anglim and Stephen Wirtz galleries in San Francisco, and at The Drawing Center in New York. She has been in group exhibitions at Boston Center for the Arts; Oakland Art Gallery; and Berkeley Art Center. In 1992, she received a National Endowment for the Arts award, “Works on Paper.”

Reviews and articles about Henderson's work have appeared in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Art in America. She lives in Berkeley, and has exhibited with the Rosamund Felsen Gallery since 2007.