Jonathon Westacott

Local Contemporary Art Prize 2025 – Finalist

Image courtesy of the artist

Jonathan Westacott | Obi | 2024 | handblown etched glass | 50 x 28cm

This work is the culmination of several complex stages. I have been working with hot glass for the last 40 years and my studio on the Blackall Range is where this work was created. Inspired by bushwalking into wilderness areas, my drawings become the theme for each piece.

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 form is a canvas for my drawings and is delicately carved to reveal the coloured glasses beneath.

The Obi Valley is close to where I live on the Blackall Range and the ‘Narrows’ is a dramatic section of the Obi watercourse bellow Baroon Pocket Dam. On this piece I have carved the views north and south where a small waterfall drops into the Obi and brush box trees cling to the rockface.