Calligraphy is the most thoughtful and artistic of the arts, transcribing ideas into beautifully written words.

The Oxford Scribes, an international body, was founded in Oxfordshire, welcoming beginners and seasoned professionals. Tim Noad belongs to Her Majesty’s College of Arms; he inscribed The Queen’s written consent to the union of William and Kate. Based on a Persian miniature, his plunging yet tranquil Angel is painted on vellum using ground pigments of glowing malachite and lapis lazuli. He wears a deep blue gown, a belted orange coat and a golden domed crown, and sports gorgeous folded tapering wings.

The calligraphers gathered here display a wide range of skills and ideas. Chris Corser’s Chinese brush painting, depicting three sections of Bamboo, is enhanced with the words: “Nothing stirs, not even one leaf.” Sylvie Gokulsing uses blue cut-out paper pieces for her Islamic circular biomorphic design of stylised plants and flower enhanced by a quotation from Isaiah.

Caroline Keevil has chosen a thin slice of wood on which is inscribed “Ash heartwood with all its life sounds slated into it”. This conveys her need to get to the core of life; her art is a spiritual search for meaning. Lin Kerr sees lettering to hold both ‘Tension and Freedom’ evidenced in her graceful banners; one depicts a subtle suggestion of a kimono while another contains the words “A time to be born and a time to die” from Ecclesiastes.

Gilly Middleburgh takes the writing of a 12th-century Hebrew poet Judah ha-Levi that expresses his longing for the Holy Land — “My heart is in the east, but I am at the west’s furthest edge” complemented by a terracotta coloured silhouette of Jerusalem with gilded domes, the whole framed in olive wood. Carlyle said: “The art of writing is the most miraculous of all things man has devised.” This is a fitting epigram for this interesting exhibition.

Until August 21. Town Hall, Market Square, Bampton. Open Tues-Sat 10.30am-4.30pm, Sun 2-4pm.