Internationally renowned glass artist Nick Mount, who was among the pioneers of the Australian Studio glass movement, will be kicking off Kent State University’s Glass Artist in Residence program Oct. 15-26. Mount will also give a glass demonstration, open to the public, from 1-5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24 in the Glass Studio in the Michael Schwartz Center at the Kent campus.

The virtuoso glassblower, designer and teacher will be working on a new series of work, “Falling Bobs” in the School of Art’s Glass Studio. During Mount’s stay from Oct. 15-26, he will work alongside students, giving demonstrations, lectures and will allow the environment to inform this new body of work, which will be exhibited by the Thomas R. Riley Gallery in Cleveland and at SoFa (Sculptural Objects, Functional Art), the preeminent international fine and contemporary craft exposition in the United States.

Mount combines masterful, freely adapted traditional Venetian glassblowing techniques with his own brand of contemporary design in a distinctive, unexpected and playful marriage of vibrantly colored blown, cut and fabricated glass. Distinguished by their brilliant colors and physical presence, these highly gestural, sculptural vessels loosely follow the tradition of creating large, highly decorated glass vessels used for display purposes in apothecaries and perfumeries. This tradition has informed his stunning ongoing and evolving series, “Scent Bottles”.

Mount’s skill and theatrics in the studio have ensured that he is in high demand as both a teacher and demonstrator at contemporary glass centers of excellence around the world. He is a highly respected leader among his peers, with an exhibition record that spans 30 years and four continents.

Please call the School of Art for further information at 330-672-2192.

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Media contact:

Rachel Wenger-Pelosi, 330-672-8046 and rwenger@kent.edu