Michael Clary, G.G., creates life-size statue of Richard T. Liddicoat, G.G., GIA's "father of modern gemology."
Michael Clary, G.G., presents Richard T. Liddicoat, G.G., with a life-size statue at an unveiling ceremony June 10 in Carlsbad.

"Father of modern gemology" honored

On June 10, five years after he first introduced the idea to honor Richard T. Liddicoat, G.G., GIA’s "father of modern gemology," Michael Clary, G.G., proudly presented Liddicoat with his life-like bronze sculpture, permanently located at the entranceway to the Carlsbad campus.

Art Is a Thing That Takes Its Own Time

Only a few of Michael Clary’s closest friends are aware that he is an accomplished artist. Yet, even they had no idea about his multi-year process to create a life-size bronze sculpture of Liddicoat until it was unveiled in June 1999 at the Gemological Institute of America’s world headquarters in Carlsbad, California.

The unveiling was of the original sculpture modeled in clay. After several months of preparation and casting at the Artworks of Fallbrook foundry in Fallbrook, California, the statue was finally completed.

The idea for the sculpture was born from a discussion in 1995 between Clary, a graduate gemologist and diamond expert, who has worked at GIA for 22 years, and D. Vincent Manson, Ph.D, former GIA director of strategic planning. They discussed honoring Liddicoat, the man who many consider their gemological mentor.

Clary told Manson that he wished to create a bust of Liddicoat. But Manson envisioned a life-size image.

"Vince said a bust was just not big enough," GIA President William E. Boyajian, G.G., explained to the group assembled for the unveiling of the Liddicoat statue. " ‘We need the whole man,’ Vince told Mike."

The prospect of creating a full-size statue caused both angst and exhilaration for Clary.

"I told him I never made a life-size sculpture before," Clary explained. "Always the optimist, Vince looked at me and said, ‘Go for it.’ And I did."

Clary fastidiously went to work collecting photographs of Liddicoat so that he could capture the world-renowned gemologist’s likeness.

Over the next four months—when he wasn’t working as GIA Gem Trade Laboratory’s gemological services supervisor—Clary created a 1 ½-foot model of Liddicoat. With the model in hand, he went back to Manson, Boyajian, and GIA GTL Chief Executive Officer Tom Yonelunas, G.G. They gave Clary the go-ahead to complete the life-size version.

Initially, Clary sculpted the piece in Styrofoam, to exacting standards, taking more than a year to ensure each measurement and detail was accurate, to create a form for the next step—clay.

Clary, who worked on the sculpture in his spare time, took many months to mold the clay to correct proportions. Photographs taken by Clary throughout the process exhibit the painstaking attention to detail as he crafted the tie, belt, shoes, and the details of the fold of Liddicoat’s clothing, down to the lines of his face.

"I knew it would take a while," Clary said. "Art is a thing that takes its own time."

Clary worked on the project at a studio in Claremont, California. However, once GIA relocated from Santa Monica, California, to Carlsbad in 1996, Clary found that his work demands during the transition period, and his 100-mile move to Carlsbad, slowed the sculpting project.

However, as it turned out, the distraction allowed Clary a renewed approach to the project and time to think about the details of the sculpture.

"It’s a real challenge to get the hands and the features right, capturing the personality of the subject," Clary explained.

He meticulously worked to mesh Liddicoat as the educator and the gemologist. And it shows. One hand of the sculpture is outstretched as if reaching out to the student while the other holds the handbook of Gem Identification, written by Liddicoat in 1947.

Clary fashioned the cover for the Gem Identification book with a rubbing of the outline, he then incised the outline, and molded the clay.

He went so far as to fashion Liddicoat’s GIA service pin that he received in Santa Monica, during his tenure as president of the Institute.

A Confidante

As Clary’s work neared completion, he could hardly contain himself.

Colleague and friend, Patrick Ball, G.G., director of associate and Alumni relations, said that he and Clary were having breakfast in Las Vegas in June 1999 during the JCK show. Clary broke his silence.

"He told me that he had something he wanted me to see," Ball said. "I had no idea what it was. He handed me a picture of Mr. Liddicoat—the statue. I said, ‘You did this?’ I was amazed."

Clary told Ball because he wanted a reaction from an impartial confidante.

Ball was especially pleased with Clary’s work because it was Liddicoat who invited Ball to work for the Institute when Ball was a student at GIA in 1985. Ball said he has always admired the gemologist’s knowledge, the grading system he developed and the fact that he refined GIA’s resident education program.

Ball promised to keep Clary’s secret and to assist him with the unveiling preparations.

Moving Day

June 19, 1999, was moving day for the Liddicoat statue. Clary and Wendall Perry of Artworks of Fallbrook enlisted Ball’s help in moving the final clay piece from Clary’s studio to GIA 100 miles away.

"At first he wouldn’t let me come into the studio," Ball said. "I asked myself, ‘What am I waiting for?’ I walked right in to see Mr. Liddicoat standing there. It was amazing—like seeing a real person standing there."

Ball, armed with his Pentax camera, recorded the entire moving day event for Clary.

Perry arrived at the studio and proceeded to build a plywood box to encase the statue for its ride to Carlsbad. He secured screws to the base of the statue and built a collar around its shoulders lined in Styrofoam to prevent it from moving or being damaged.

"I kept asking Mike, ‘Are you nervous?’ " Ball explained. "As it came out of the studio he was watching every move."

"I was nervous," Clary admitted.

"Hell, I was nervous," Ball added.

The statue was transported via truck to Carlsbad on June 19, the Saturday prior to the 3rd International Gemological Symposium, with the unveiling set for June 25, after the GIA Open House on the Carlsbad campus.

With the help of the GIA Facilities and Security staff, the statue was hidden inside a closet in the office of Gary Hill, GIA director of Facilities & Management Services.

Now the onus of keeping it secret for another six days fell upon a few more GIA employees. With GIA’s reputation for uncompromising security measures, it’s no wonder that a statue of GIA’s "father of gemology" could be hidden in a closet at the Institute for close to a week without word getting out.

"Even though hiding the tall statue and building a suitable frame for the unveiling was challenging, Mr. Liddicoat’s expression of surprise and appreciation were worth every challenge," said Tom Costello, GIA manager of Facilities.

RTL Meets His Match

The unveiling, attended by much of the GIA Carlsbad staff, Symposium staff, Symposium participants and some of GIA’s governors, proved to be an emotional event for Liddicoat, Clary and the crowd.

As the drape was removed, the crowd gasped then cheered.

"It came as a total surprise to me," Liddicoat said. "I thought they wanted me to unveil a donated stone carving. Instead, it was me. I was amazed at how good a likeness Michael had achieved. I’ve had everything I could possibly hope for and this is more than I could have ever imagined."

Liddicoat entertained the crowd of onlookers by quipping, "What this sculpture needs now is a group of pigeons."

Liddicoat said that he has always held Clary and his gemological skills in high regard, that his reputation at GIA and in the industry is exemplary and that his talent as an artist is yet one more thing he does well.

Clary said later, "My only regret is that Vince [Manson] was unable to see the final work. Especially since he encouraged me to go forward with it."

Manson was ill the day of the unveiling and was unable to attend. He died July 3, 1999, after a yearlong struggle with cancer.

On the Road Again

After the unveiling of the clay version of the Liddicoat statue, there was still work to be done. Perry and his crew again carefully packed and carted the statue to the Fallbrook foundry for its finishing stages.

At the foundry, the statue had to be separated into pieces to create a wax mold.

Ball recalls Clary calling him one day and exclaiming, "His arms, they’ve removed his arms. I went out there last week and the arms were cut off and laid on a table," Clary said. "That made me a little nervous."

But Clary knew that the foundry crew had to fashion the statue in several pieces.

After the wax mold, the foundry poured a ceramic shell to encase the wax, which was then heated inside of a kiln and the wax burned out, leaving only a hollow cavity.

Finally, after several months, the metal—heated bronze was poured into the ceramic shell. The metal hardened in just a few minutes. Next, all of the pieces were welded back together.

The final stages, after the pieces were cast in bronze, included welding the pieces together, and completing the chaste and patina process.

The Final Installation

"We (Boyajian and Clary) knew that Commencement 2000 was coming and that it would be the perfect opportunity to present the finished statue to Mr. Liddicoat," Clary said.

And so they did. On June 10, 2000, in front of hundreds of graduates and supporters, GIA presented Liddicoat with the life-size bronze sculpture, which rested atop a granite pedestal at the entranceway to the Institute.

"It is an honor to have known you and to have sculpted your likeness," Clary told Liddicoat.

The graduates, families and friends applauded and commented on the remarkable likeness of the artwork to the famous gemologist, as they gathered to hear Boyajian explain that the sculpture epitomizes Liddicoat’s 60 years with GIA.

"He has been instrumental in 60 of GIA’s 69 years," Boyajian said. "He is ‘Mr. GIA’ and he embodies everything that is good about GIA."

Liddicoat commented, "How delighted I am to greet people in this way as they approach this beautiful campus."

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