Down the Oodnadatta: Painted Desert (2022)
Seven handblown cut and carved glass sculptures by Alexandra Hirst
Photography: Michael Haines
This landscape sculpture illustrates my journey down the Oodnadatta track to the Painted Desert in South Australia. This area was a seabed 80 million years ago, and when the land rose, erosion shaped the desert to reveal a painterly effect of red, gray and white mineral deposits. I found such beauty and inspiration from this stark landscape with its vast flat plains and stunning sand and rock formations.
I wondered if the same processes that formed this landscape could be applied to my practice in the glass studio. I shaped and layered different colours of hot glass with a painterly effect to build each piece. Once the glass was cool, elements were cut and carved away to mirror the striking tones and textures of the desert. Arranged on a bed of red sand, these seven pieces capture a special moment in my travels.