At Flying Arts Alliance Inc, today meeting Jonathon Westacott the winner of the Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award at his solo exhibition.

He has explored the Queensland landscape through drawing, hand blowing glass and etching. Like us, he has a love and fascination with owls, and is lucky enough to spot some of them in his part of the Queensland hinterland. He volunteers for Birdlife Australia and spends time in the bush looking at the old and gnarled tree trunks and their hollows and admires them for their natural beauty and the home they provide.

What blew me away was not just the beauty of his work but his approach to it. He uses recycled glass, often from crushed solar panels. Given we are thinking of upgrading ours, it’s a consolation to know some of the discarded ones find an artistic second life instead of going to landfill. He blows his glass vases but only over an intense short time, once a year, to cut down on gas consumption and then with the drawings and inspiration from the bush he delicately carves and shapes the drawings to reveal the coloured glass underneath. His works were perched on tall plinths and the light filtered through them revealing sunsets and river beds, grass owls and tree trunks.

The detail is intricate and shows his love of the bush and the wilderness within it. The landscapes are sweeping and rugged, filled with the light of the Queensland sun as it rises and sets.

The Exhibition is on from the 17th of April to the 30th at Flying Arts Festival House 381 Brunswick St, Brisbane. Go along and admire the work.