Get your Northern Irish up at Pyramid Atlantic

‘‘My work is based on the idea of memory as a collection,” she says. ‘‘It’s a mix of personal memories and associations.”

McKeown’s work, on view at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring, is part of the Rediscover Northern Ireland program that will culminate in the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival program ‘‘Northern Ireland at the Smithsonian.” Printmaker Elaine Megahey has already returned home to Belfast; McKeown is about halfway through her three-week stint as a resident artist.

‘‘When I was in college,” says McKeown, who holds a master’s degree in fine and applied arts from the University of Ulster, ‘‘I divided my time between photography and printmaking. It allowed me to incorporate photography into my work.”

Here on a worktable in the Pyramid Atlantic studio, she shows examples of photo-intaglio, the process she uses.

‘‘It’s done by laminating photo polymer — photosensitive film — on top of a metal plate,” McKeown explains, adding that this is a ‘‘non-toxic, relatively new way” to work.

‘‘It gives a sort of very soft, almost engaged effect.”

The effect works well as she pays dreamy homage to ancestors, long-dead writers, even the historic home in which she grew up. The house may be slated for a teardown — there’s a housing boom complete with McMansionization in Belfast, too — but McKeown has immortalized the place and its contents. Carpet fibers, wallpaper, dirt from the garden: Everything is captured in glass jars, assembled in a memory box and christened ‘‘All that and those.”

At home, McKeown is associated with the Seacourt Print Workshop, and works as an artist in residence with Arts Care, ‘‘an organization that puts artists with hospital trusts [charities].

‘‘We devise the projects together with the group,” she says. ‘‘It’s fully inclusive.”

And, when she can, the artist leaves her mentally ill and disabled students to work abroad. Coming to Pyramid Atlantic, she says, ‘‘is an opportunity to do a residency in a place that provides fantastic facilities.”

It’s also a chance to be part of ‘‘Rediscover Northern Ireland.” The program is a series of more than 40 arts and cultural events designed to promote Northern Ireland, a place most Americans tend to associate with the often violent sectarian conflict — too complicated to go into here — known as the Troubles.

‘‘Times are changing,” McKeown says. ‘‘I think the political situation at the moment is looking more positive than it has in the past. There are things to be ironed out, but it’s more hopeful now — there’s dialogue.”

And dialogue may be the point of the ‘‘Rediscover” program, with its focus on music, art, drama and folklore instead of blankets, bombs and balaclavas. But for McKeown, it’s all about contemplation and introspection: daydreams, memories, the inward response to any outward sensory trigger.

Traditional Irish folklore?

‘‘You see enough of that,” she shudders.

The big bold legends of Ulster can live on elsewhere; the memories of Ulster are captured here, on paper, in boxes, in hearts.

‘‘Rediscover Northern Ireland” is on display through July 28 at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; evenings and Sundays, by appointment.

Jill McKeown will give an artist talk on Saturday, 5 to 6 p.m., followed by an opening reception with Irish food, and music from 6 to 8 p.m. Call 301-608-9101 or visit www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org.