Wild world: The exquisite art of glass is all heart
Sunshine Coast artist and environmentalist Jonathon Westacott’s breathtaking paintings and glass sculptures take flight in a solo exhibition in a new gallery space in Fortitude Valley.
It was the owls that first got my attention. Artist Jonathon Westacott knows his owls, which feature in his paintings and the drawings that infuse (perhaps the wrong word) his stunning glass sculptures, now on display in his solo exhibition at Flying Arts in Fortitude Valley.
Flying Arts has a new home in Festival House with a lovely gallery space fronting Brunswick Street. Inside until April 30 you can enjoy the work of Westacott, who lives on the Blackall Range of the Sunshine Coast hinterland,.
He is the winner of the 2025 Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award, part of the Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA). His winning work is called Banyena and is currently in the QRRA Touring Exhibition, not on display in his solo show, which will tour later.
Touring shows are something Flying Arts does well. An organisation that covers the state and its artists, it all started with the late Mervyn Moriarty – pilot, artist, adventurer. He and his fellow artists travelled in light planes all over Queensland holding workshops and exhibitions. His legacy is Flying Arts as it is today.
Things are a little different now, but Flying Arts still covers Queensland and celebrates the landscape with the annual prize named after Moriarty.
Westacott’s work reflects a considered and immersive engagement with landscape, exploring the physical and emotional qualities of place. Drawing on lived experience of regional environments, his practice captures both the scale and subtlety of Queensland’s diverse terrains.
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He is, he tells me, in a Powerful Owl group and, no, that is not a rock band. It’s a group that studies and monitors and appreciates these amazing birds for Birdlife Australia. He has featured several species of owls in works, such as the watercolour Grass Owl (painted on cotton rag) which shows an owl with its swings spread, soaring beneath a night sky, that is heavenly indeed.
There’s also Grass Owl as a handblown and etched glass piece. His glass work is the main game in his practice. Three-dimensional glass objects are his canvas. Handblown and etched, Westacott’s glass sculptures demonstrate a high level of technical skill and attention to the detail of the natural world.
How exactly he does it is a bit of a mystery to me, even though he explained it. There seems to be some sort of alchemical process going on here that ends with gorgeous, if ghostly, drawings on the surface of his glass sculptures that are sometimes shaped like vessels. They are exquisite in the extreme.
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Buderim Falls 2025.
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Myall Lakes 2025.
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Mooloola Grass Owl 2024.
“Inspired by Art Nouveau glass and the 19th century Romanticists, I have spent the last 40 years exploring the idea of creating three-dimensional glass objects as a canvas for my drawings,” he explains.
“Environmental concerns are the core of my research into the Australian landscape and the preservation of natural habitat and wilderness. This work is the culmination of several complex stages. Gathering the liquid material from the furnace, the form is constructed from many layers of coloured glass, blown, sculpted and allowed to cool slowly over several days. The final shape is delicately carved with my drawings to reveal the coloured glass beneath.”
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The results are amazing and here is some good news for collectors – they are for sale at quite reasonable prices.
Westacott says it is “a privilege to have been selected and represented by Flying Arts”.
“This organisation is a beacon for recognising the importance of the arts in regional Australia and it’s a wonderful opportunity to exhibit my work in the gallery space,” he says.
Flying Arts CEO Toni Palmer says the exhibition reflects the strength of regional artists while highlighting the importance of sustained support across all stages of creative development.
“The Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award recognises outstanding landscape practice, but it also sits within a much broader ecosystem for support for artists across Queensland,” he says.
“This exhibition is one outcome of that journey. From early creative experiences through to professional development and national recognition, Flying Arts is committed to supporting artists at every stage of their careers.”
The QRAA are Flying Arts’ annual visual arts awards for established and emerging artists living in regional Queensland, offering Australia’s largest regional arts awards prize pool of $184,500.
The 2025 finalists are exhibited in Brisbane first, then tour regional centres including Cairns, Mackay, St George, Longreach, Townsville and Winton. The solo exhibition also tours and comes back to Brisbane later in the year when it will be exhibited at 1 William Street, City.
Jonathon Westacott’s paintings and glass sculptures can be seen at Flying Arts’ new home in Festival House, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, until April 30, before touring.
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