Portals of Gnosis

Paintings by Anita Joice

Exhibition dates: Saturday 21 March – Saturday 18 April 2026
Opening Reception: 12–2 pm, Saturday 21 March
Location: West Ox Arts Gallery, Market Square, Bampton, Oxfordshire, OX18 2JH

Admission: Free

West Ox Arts Gallery presents Portals of Gnosis a new body of work by Oxfordshire-based emerging artist Anita Joice, featuring paintings and works on paper inspired by well-known locations across Oxfordshire. The exhibition combines expressive plein air paintings with more intimate watercolours, monoprints, and drawings, alongside subtle mythical or symbolic figures and quiet sound recordings that evoke the atmosphere of place.

The title Portals of Gnosis refers to places and conditions that open doorways to extraordinary moments of perception or inner knowing. Joice’s work explores how familiar landscapes can become sites of heightened awareness, where history, myth, nature, and imagination intersect. While rooted in real locations, the paintings often incorporate dream-like or visionary elements, inviting viewers to experience these places in a deeper, more reflective way.

Some works reveal hidden traces of ancient cultures or pagan imagery embedded within churches and historic sites. Others draw on personal visions and dreams, including imagined narratives such as a nymphaeum beneath Oxford, medieval big cats roaming Blenheim, or an early king appearing within the trunk of a birch tree at Woodstock. These symbolic presences encourage reflection on how stories, memory, and perception shape our relationship with landscape.

Joice works across a range of media, including acrylic, watercolour, monoprint, and drawing, offering variation in scale and style throughout the exhibition. An important aspect of her practice is sharing the experience of place with others. She frequently develops participatory projects, inviting people to sketch and paint alongside her, and many of the works in Portals of Gnosis emerge from this embedded, communal way of working outdoors.

Artist Quote
“Oxford and Oxfordshire are full of stories, history, and imagination. My work explores how these layers of place, myth, and nature intersect, inviting viewers to connect with landscapes in a deeper, more reflective way.”
— Anita Joice