Nightmares, Visions & Dreams

Nightmares, Visions & Dreams is an exhibition on show at the Belfast Print Workshop Gallery. It showcases original fine art prints created by thirty-four talented artists from the Belfast Print Workshop and Shepard and Maudsleigh Studio, Boston. Join their late night art reception from 6-9pm on Thursday, the 7th of November!

According to legend, in 2022 the artist known as Peter Macaulay, who was living in Bellingham, Massachusetts, had a busy fall playing Celtic harp in several Highland Games, when he went for an extended visit to family in his native Northern Ireland. During that visit, because his family had been trying to persuade him and his wife Elsje to move back, he visited the Belfast Print Workshop as a place where he might be able to rent access to presses if he did indeed move. He fell in love with this “interesting place where they have the whole top floor of an old textile warehouse”. During his visit to BPW Peter met Dónall Billings, the Studio Manager and Chief Print Technician. They chatted about Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio, in West Newton, Massachusetts, where Peter had been enjoying printing his woodcuts. In response to Peter’s enthusiasm, a couple of days after he visited BPW Peter received an email from Dónall proposing to develop a print exchange between BPW and Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio. Peter returned from his trip bearing the idea for the two printmaking studios to develop a theme, print a portfolio and exhibit the work on both sides of the “pond.”

In a series of Zoom calls between Dónall Billings, Rebekah Lord Gardiner and Liz Shepherd, the co-founders of Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio, the Nightmares, Visions and Dreams theme was conceived, dimensions of the prints decided, and the portfolio designed. A vast number of prints were editioned by artists from both studios.