Nick Mount: The Fabric of Work examines the contribution that Australian artist Nick Mount has made over four decades to the glass arts. The publication complements Mount’s recent honour of becoming a 2012 Living Treasure: Masters of Australian Craft (an initiative of Object: Australian Design Centre).
The 130-page book begins with a foreword by Steven Pozel, director of Object, followed by a comprehensively written text by Tony Hanning interspersed with images of Mount’s work. The final section of the book comprises full-page reproductions of Mount’s most recent works.
Hanning has watched Mount and his artistic development for over 35 years, and his deep understanding of Mount’s craft, as well as the artist and his thought processes, proves very insightful. Hanning and Mount’s close relationship is evident throughout the book, providing the reader with a glimpse of the intimacy between the two and enabling one to feel an affinity with both the works and the artist.
The objective of the book was for it to be written in the style of an extraordinary yarn; the subsequent tangential nature of the book is thought provoking, in that it provides a broader understanding of Mount and his lifestyle, beyond his practice. However, this is also, at times, its shortcoming, in that it provides the reader with too many threads and too much detail to follow.
The book is divided into six chapters: ‘The Prometheus Paradox’, ‘The Jam’, ‘Home’, ‘Aim Low and Win’, ‘The World and Work’ and ‘The Wall’, each loosely devoted to these different elements, though fluidly connected. The first chapter examines the Greek poet Hesiod’s story of Prometheus, suggesting that the story could be written by, or for, Mount and then connecting the story with the importance of fire in Mount’s work. We also learn in this chapter that ‘Nick is a firm believer that identity is largely occupational … work defines the individual and the champion’. This is emphasised throughout the text.
Chapter Two looks at Mount’s beginnings and progression as an artist, as well as considering the state of craft both in Australia and internationally, how this has developed, and how it influences Mount’s work. Chapter Three, ‘Home’, broadly examines Mount’s home and studio and its impact on his work, providing a ‘point at which all points of his universe meet’.
‘Aim Low and Win’ and ‘The World and Work’ discuss Mount’s philosophies and ideas that stem from them, as well as examining these concepts pragmatically and how they affect his practice. ‘The Wall’ discusses Mount’s garden in depth; the garden where he ‘conjures, fabricates and finishes his work’. It is this chapter that encapsulates not only Mount’s work but the text as a whole, fusing together knowledge of Mount’s practice, philosophies and work ethic with stories of his history, his life and his family. As the title suggests, Nick Mount: The Fabric of Work brings together Mount’s life, philosophies and environment in a holistic examination of his practice.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Nick Mount: The Fabric of Work
By Tony Hanning
Paperback, 136pp, RRP $49.95
ISBN 9781743051245
Wakefield Press
