When Cherith was three years old her father moved the family back to his native Ulster where he was to take a post as superintendent at Antrim Mental Hospital.
When World War II broke-out the students were evacuated to Learmount Castle in the Sperrins, where Boyd contracted polio which was to affect her gait for the rest of her life.
[3] Boyd was presented a prize for the best painting and drawing student of 1951 at the opening of the Ulster Arts Club's annual winter exhibition.
[4] In 1954 Boyd was the first female recipient of a Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts travel scholarship worth £75, which she used to study in Italy and France.
[7] In the same year Boyd contributed a sculpture to the British Industries Fair at Earl's Court, one of six Ulster artists to show work, including Mercy Hunter, George MacCann and Dan O'Neill.
[12] After an absence of four years in which time she had been raising her three sons, McKinstry held a solo exhibition at the New Gallery on the Grosvenor Road, Belfast, in 1967.
[10] McKinstry accepted several large-scale commissions including the Stations of the Cross for St. McNissi Church at Magherahoney[13] which were previewed at the Bell Gallery in 1968.
Her largest works were the six canvas ceiling panels she created for the Grand Opera House in Belfast, part of a renovation conducted by her husband in 1979.
[17] Studies for a 1974 private commission Christ Crucified were shown as part of McKinstry's solo show at the Octogon Gallery that autumn.
[1] From 1973 onwards, McKinstry was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts annual shows,[23] where she was elected as an Associate member in 1981.