Amy Baxter MacDonald was born in Haverhill, MA, in 1965 and grew up in Clinton, NY. She received her BA from Hamilton College in 1987 and her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA in 2009.

She currently teaches animation at the New England Institute of Art, freelances as a 2D animator, and paints in her studio in Fort Point.