JOANNA GABLER
Cosmic Manifestations
November 14 – December 20, 2026
Lightforms Art Center is pleased to present Cosmic Manifestation, an exhibition of paintings by Joanna Gabler, a visual artist based in North Adams, Massachusetts, who has spent four decades exploring color as a living, transformative force and a bridge between the invisible and visible worlds. Through color, light, and movement, Gabler investigates the relationship between nature, consciousness, and the subtle forces underlying ordinary perception.
“My paintings begin from a place of knowing that there is far more to reality than what we perceive with our physical eyes,” Gabler writes. “Through color, light, and movement, I explore the subtle space where the invisible and the visible meet, where the outer world becomes a reflection of our inner experience.”
The title Cosmic Manifestation reflects Gabler's interest in how invisible forces find expression through visible form. Through observation, contemplation, and an intuitive painting process, familiar forms dissolve into fields of color, energy, and transformation. “Nature is often my starting point, but not my destination,” she explains. “I am less interested in depicting the appearance of the world than in revealing the life that exists beneath its surface.”
Some paintings emerge from close observation and magnification of natural forms, including reflections in water, revealing unexpected worlds of color and movement. Others explore the interplay of light and darkness, drawing on mythology and alchemical traditions where color carries symbolic meaning. Luminous, rainbow-like compositions suggest a connection between earthly and spiritual realms, while contrasting fields of red, black, and white evoke destruction and renewal.
As Gabler works, unexpected images sometimes emerge from the movement of color, including figures, animals, and mysterious creatures. “In this way, each work becomes a conversation between what I bring to the canvas and what the viewer perceives,” she writes. For Gabler, color has the power to evoke memory, emotion, and states of consciousness, inviting viewers into a personal dialogue with the paintings.
Gabler's artistic journey began with photographic explorations of flowers and has evolved through abstract oil paintings, digital compositions, and acrylic paintings exploring light and transformation. Her practice is deeply connected to her background in philosophy, which she studied and taught at the college level, and her longstanding involvement with Anthroposophy. She studied art at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Art Students League in New York City. Her work has been exhibited at the Bennington Museum and the Anthroposophical Branch Gallery in New York City, among other venues.
Through Cosmic Manifestation, Gabler invites viewers to look more deeply and enter a quiet conversation with the unseen aspects of life. “Rather than offering answers, I hope they create a space where wonder, reflection, and imagination can emerge.”
This exhibition is curated by Finnish artist Sampsa Pirtola and presented in collaboration with Rudolf Steiner Library (www.rudolfsteinerlibrary.org). The hours for this exhibition are Thursdays–Sundays, 1–5pm. (Closed on Thanksgiving.) Visit www.lightformsartcenter.com for event details and more info.