Bio
Heather McAteer creates evocative landscape works in graphite, drawing upon images of her childhood locale in Belfast. They reflect on her experience of living through ‘The Troubles’ and address themes of history, memory and identity.
After completing her BA in Fine Art at Belfast School of Art (1987-91) she relocated to Reading to take her MFA at the School of Art (1992-94). She has had solo exhibitions at West Berkshire Museum, Newbury (2025) and Oxford Road Gallery, Reading (2019 & 2021) and a two-person exhibition, ‘Uncertain Landscapes’ (with Alex Dewart) at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart, Northern Ireland (2023). Her work has also been selected for a wide range of group exhibitions nationally and internationally. These include ‘Responsive Space’ at Modern Art Oxford (2020), ’The Human Factor’ at Star Brewery Gallery, Lewes (2022), ‘Winter Group Show' at Linden Hall Studios, Deal (2023 & 2024), ‘Ancient Landscapes' at Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield (2024), ‘A Room of One’s Own’ at Irving Gallery, Oxford (2024), 'Biennial Open: Works on Paper' at RWA, Bristol (2025), 'SGFA 104th Annual Exhibition', Mall Galleries, London (2025) 'Shadow/Sombra' at Forum Grandela, Lisbon (2025) and 'RBSA Drawing Prize Exhibition’ at RBSA Gallery, Birmingham ( 2025 & 2023), '100/50' at Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London (2025), 'Summer Exhibition' at The Gallery at Green & Stone, London (2025), Guildford House Open (2025) and 172nd Annual Open Exhibtion at RWA, Bristol (2025).
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). She was selected for a Jelly (ACE/ National Lottery/DCMS funded) ‘At Home’ Artist Residency in 2020. In 2021 she was commissioned by the Museum of English Rural Life to make work for their ’51 Voices’ (ACE funded) Project and selected by Waldemar Januszczak as a finalist in the Save Reading Gaol ‘Freedom’ artwork competition. She is the subject of one of the artists films by Reading-based artist/filmmaker Matt Hulse commissioned by Jelly, Reading in 2023 to celebrate of their 30th anniversary year.
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.
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.
Heather is an Associate artist at Jelly an also an exhibiting artist with Reading Guild of Artists.
Click here to watch a short film by Matt Hulse, comissioned by Jelly, about my work.
Click here to read an interview with Chisara Vidale from Fern & Glade.
Click here to read an article about my work by Dr. Slavka Sverakova.
All work is for sale unless specified otherwise. To enquire, please visit the Contact page.