Bio
Originally from Belfast, Heather McAteer (b.1968) specialises in graphite drawings which explore themes of loss, trauma and personal and collective memory reflecting on her formative years in Northern Ireland. She studied Fine Art at The University of Ulster (BA) and The University of Reading (MFA) where she graduated with a distinction.
Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally with solo exhibitions at West Berkshire Museum, Newbury (2025) and Open Hand Open Space, Reading (2019 & 2021) and a two-person exhibition at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart, Northern Ireland (2023). Selected group exhibitions include, mostly recently, ‘Winter Group Show’at Linden Hall Studios, Deal (2023, 2024 & 2025), ‘A Room of One’s Own’ at Irving Gallery, Oxford (2024), ‘RBSA Drawing Prize Exhibition’ at RBSA Gallery, Birmingham (2023 & 2025), ‘Biennial Open: Paper Works’at RWA, Bristol (2025), ‘SFGA Open Exhibition’at The Mall Galleries, London (2025), Shadow/Sombre’ at Forum Grandela, Lisbon (2025), '100/50' at Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London (2025), 172nd Annual Open Exhibition at RWA, Bristol (2025), 'Guildford House Open' at Guildford House Gallery (2025) and 'Works on Paper' at The Gallery at Green & Stone, London (2026).
Heather has been selected for numerous awards, commissions and residencies. She is the recipient of 'The Damian Greenish Drawing Award' at the 7th Summer Exhibition at The Gallery at Green & Stone, London (2025) and ‘The Drawing Prize’ at the 139th Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast (2020). In 2021 she was commissioned by the Museum of English Rural Life to make work for their ’51 Voices’ (ACE funded) Project.
The first book of her work, 'Forests of Dreamland', was published in June 2024 by Redden Press.
She works full-time on her art from her home studio in Charvil, Reading.
She is a Gallery Artist at Irving Gallery, Oxford.
Artist Statement
My drawings explore landscapes shaped by memory, loss, and identity. Growing up during the Northern Ireland Troubles and later moving to England, I’m interested in how personal and collective histories shape our sense of belonging. Much of my work revisits places from my childhood in Belfast where traces of conflict still linger. I use old maps and pages from reference books as surfaces for drawing, partially obscuring them with gesso to allow certain details to emerge. This layering creates a dialogue between past and present, presence and absence. A limited colour palette and the tonal qualities of graphite help evoke a haunting, dreamlike atmosphere, while the intimate scale and single-point perspective invite the viewer into a space of quiet confrontation.The sea has become a recurring motif suggesting migration, distance and emotional undercurrents tied to exile and return. In the Northern Irish context, land and sea alike become silent witnesses to trauma, holding both visible and hidden histories, including those of ‘The Disappeared’.
Drawing is a meditative act for me, a way of processing and distilling experience. As I revisit familiar landscapes through memory, they shift and change, revealing new emotional depths. I see these places as what Celtic mythology calls “Thin Places”, thresholds where the visible and invisible worlds meet, and where transformation, reflection, and healing can begin.
Click here to watch a short film by Matt Hulse, comissioned by Jelly, about my work.
All work is for sale unless specified otherwise. To enquire, please visit the Contact page.