Oxford Art Weeks - May 2025

WE'RE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:

For dates and times, please see: Wycliffe Hall Artweek Opening Times

2025 marks the fifth year that Wycliffe Hall has participated in Oxford Art Weeks, and we look forward to welcoming you into Hall.

This year we are featuring pottery, ceramic sculptures, oil and acrylic paintings, iconography, pastels, watercolours, textiles, fashion design, digital art, and drawings. Some of the artists will be available to discuss their work with guests and visitors.

David Clifton, Artist in Residence and organiser of Wycliffe's exhibition says:

"Pablo Picasso once described art as ‘a lie that enables us to see the truth’. Wycliffe Hall is committed to fostering a New Renaissance, a vision for fresh inspiration to transform our culture for the better, a new wisdom of thinking, scholarship and art.

The beauty and inspiration that artists bring to the world is often a profound revelation. It is a new strength, shining light and joy into our daily routines, responsibilities and the challenges which are an inevitable part of life. The overwhelming and moving sound of a new song or symphony, the sheer artistic beauty of colour form and shape, both abstract and figurative.

Theologian Abraham Kuyper stated that art is ‘one of God's richest gifts to mankind’ commenting that the best art is designed to inspire us with the good and beautiful. It is a restoration of something our world has lost through the corrupting influence of evil and wrongdoing. The current world crisis, with the uncertainty and challenges facing us all give us pause to reflect upon his wise words.

‘Beauty will save the world’, to slightly misquote Fyodor Dostoevsky! Inspired art always has the power to move and motivate us, to communicate the power of love through creative beauty. The highest forms of art transcend the ordinary and mundane, pointing to a greater inspirational Light, encouraging engagement, thought, interaction and personal response."