Forests of Dreamland

A new book from artist Heather McAteer which includes recent artwork together with an in-depth conversation piece charting Heather’s creative process, influences and background.

Forests of Dreamland is published by Redden Press on 2nd June 2024, in a first edition of 100 copies.

About the book:
The 19 works included in this book were all created using found paper from old books and maps. Like history, and life, art is layered on top of the past, partially obscuring but also transforming it. The paper retains visible traces of its earlier form but has become something new. With a foreword by John Higgs and an in-depth ‘in conversation’ piece with fellow artist Robert Fitzmaurice which charts Heather’s creative process, influences and background.

About the artist:
Heather McAteer is a Belfast-born artist who has lived in Reading since the early 1990s. Her distinctive imagery is drawn from the area of Belfast where she grew up and is an emotional response to her past from the perspective of someone who is now an outsider, an exile. Her works are typically created using graphite, and are dreamlike, almost surreal, eerie and sometimes unsettling. They feature trees and wooded areas, not idyllic or pastoral but with a suppressed threat lurking under the surface. Unquiet nature is very dominant in the work, but there's also redemptive nature there too, a sense of beauty as well as darkness.

Paperback | 56 pages | 19 colour images | ISBN: 978-1-7385509-0-6