MacChesney exhibited watercolors at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and was awarded a medal for her work. An article in "The San Francisco Call" announced that she had placed two paintings in the 1900 World's Exposition in Paris, and remarked that: "Both American and foreign artists have referred to Miss McChesney as 'America's foremost woman painter.' " She would later exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, winning a bronze medal.