| Contemporary glass artists
form a loose-knit global community, meeting together at glass
centers around the world when they exhibit, teach and attend
conferences. Australian glass artist, Nick Mount, is a respected
member of that international glass family. He leads a partly
nomadic existence, teaching regularly at glass centers in
America, Canada, Europe and Japan. His roots, however, are
firmly planted in Australia, where he works from
a studio in Adelaide.
Mount has been a pivotal influence in the flourishing Australian
studio glass movement. Since his original introduction to
glass blowing by Richard Marquis in 1974 he has been at the
forefront of innovation and achievement in his field.
His first influences were the
US west coast art scene of the 1970s and Venetian glass-blowing
traditions, but from the outset his work has been
distinctively individual. It is also quintessentially Australian
- informed but not confined by tradition, perpetually pushing
frontiers and imaginatively intrepid. His wry sense of humour,
too,
is distinctively Australian.
Mount's major opus, the Scent Bottles, an evolving series
of sculptural assemblages that he commenced in 1997, exemplifies
these qualities. This new ensemble of Scent Bottles, all completed
in early 2002, reveal him at the height of his mature powers,
with a masterly finesse in eliciting the luminous poetry of
glass to convey a spectrum of moods from exuberant theatricality
to lyrical serenity.
The Scent Bottles are a study in contrasts and in meticulously
calibrated balance - towering in scale yet intimate, spectacular
from afar yet yielding jewel-like detail to close inspection.
Sections of dazzling transparent colour are juxtaposed with
the texture of carved surfaces and with inciso designs based
on the interplay of opaque and transparent colours.
The warmth of gestural pencil markings is offset by the cool
metallic precision of aluminum spikes. Improbable juxtapositions
of form are precisely balanced despite their precarious angles.
Each piece is a finely judged composition of separately blown
and cold finished sections, loosely based on the classic segmented
structure of the perfume bottle.
Over the period he has been exploring this form, the Scent
Bottles have evolved in series, each successive suite of
works reflecting an increasing complexity and sophistication,
while becoming more autonomous as sculptural assemblages that
owe less and less allegiance to the perfume bottle.
For Mount the Scent Bottle is a 'found object' from the history
of factory glass. His interest in such historical 'found'
objects goes back to the 1980s with his series from that era
of Funnels, Fishing Floats and Walking Canes.
As a vessel form richly layered with historical nuance, he
has found in the scent bottle a poetic resonance that offers
him limitless possibilities of creative exploration.
It signifies the qualities of anonymous craftsmanship and
beauty associated with the traditional glass factory artisans
who once made perfume bottles, while also alluding to associations
of 'scent' with passion, luxury and allure.
Mount first makes all the individual components for a suite
of up to maybe twenty Scent Bottles, creating each component
as an artwork in its own right, without at that stage having
pre-conceived the final composition. Individual sections are
blown and hot formed, cold-finished with a spectrum of hand
and wheel-carving techniques and finally polished. He then
assembles the complete form, treating the individual components
as 'found' objects from which he makes a partlyrandom selection.
This process gives the finished work a sense of chance discovery
within controlled stylistic parameters - reminiscent of the
balance between disciplined control and improvisation in contemporary
jazz. Despite the element of chance, Mount carefully composes
each piece to create its particular persona or style.
The current ensemble reveals new directions and an evolution
of his sculptural tendencies. Statuesque rotund Scent Bottles,
balancing with humorous aplomb on narrow cone-shaped bases,
evolve into slender forms with elaborately carved central
sections featuring textural detail from hand and wheel-carving.
He uses inciso carving to expose the underlying layer of glass
in jagged patterns, or battuto to create a honeycomb pattern,
or intricate diamond wheel embellishment to create a luminous
translucent glow.
The most recently evolved Scent Bottles feature striking 'plumb-bob'
stoppers tapering to an aluminum spike.
The plumb-bob, an ancient mason's tool used to measure depth
or verticality, signifies the recurring motif of balance and
calibration underlying his approach to glass as sculptural
form.
Mount has developed a unique enamel glass pencil that can
be fired onto the glass and he uses this to draw directly
onto the surface of the 'plumb-bob', creating loose abstract
designs that in some pieces mimic murrine or cane patterns.
With these hand drawn markings he succeeds in extending the
technical limitations of the medium and introduces a more
intimate gestural element into his work.
Technical virtuosity is never an end in itself for Mount.
Rather, technical breakthroughs such as the enamel glass pencil
are for him a means to push glass further as an expressive
medium, to mix colours and achieve a more subtle palette.
Through the gradual evolution of the Scent Bottles series
he is continuing his quest to imbue glass with personal as
well as historical nuance - with the feelings and the passion
that inspire his work.
In the Scent Bottles Mount has created containers for the
uncontainable - embodiments of the transmutation of feeling
into form.
Margot Osborne 2002
Margot Osborne is a curator and writer based in
Adelaide, Australia.
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