GEM ARTISTS OF NORTH AMERICA
Celebrating a Quarter Century of Creativity & Camaraderie
Aquarter-century has passed since the birth of the Gem Artists of North America (GANA), an organization comprised of lovers of the gem art world. Gem artists held their first meeting in February of 1995 during the annual gem shows held in Tucson, Arizona. It was only natural to choose Tucson as the annual meeting venue, as thousands of gem dealers, mineral collectors, jewelers, gemologists, appraisers and gem artists, were present to experience buying, selling and discovering gems and vendors.
The group’s goal was to create a forum for artists and professionals of the gemstone art industry that ignites the creative spirit, supports artist needs, and increases awareness and appreciation through education, promotion, and exhibits. A group of 20 artists gathered for the first GANA meeting. The group included many opinionated individuals not used to working with anyone else, much less within a group. But they overcame the difficulties, and an organization was born. At its height, membership topped 100 members.
During my first trip to Tucson in 1997, I attended the annual meeting of GANA and immediately joined the ranks. Over the years, I have exhibited with the group at several museum venues, including the Lizzadro Museum in Elmhurst, Illinois, multiple times at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Ballet Opera, and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. I’ve also served in leadership roles within GANA, as treasurer from 2000-2001, and as president between 2002-2003. Something you may not know is that the terms “gem art” and “gem artist” were adapted (if not coined) by GANA. Several terms are used to describe the art of carving gems, including glyptic arts (from the ancient Greek glyptoi lithoi sculptured stones), gem sculpture, glyptography, gem engraving, gem carving, as well as intaglio, cameo, faceting, cabbing, intarsia and mosaic relating to specific types of lapidary work. The term gem art was chosen as it embraces all art forms, figurative and non-figurative, stylized or organic freeform, that utilize gem materials. Gem artists are spread geographically across the country from coast to coast, living in almost every state, and in the early days, several Canadian artist members also traveled to Tucson for the annual shows and to attend the GANA meetings. Mostly