Meet the two minds
behind the plate.
Gelli Arts® started with a simple frustration and a big idea — an artist who loved gelatin printing, and a product developer who knew how to make something that lasts. Together, Joan Bess and Lou Ann Gleason created the original Gelli® printing plate.
Lou Ann Gleason
Lou Ann brings 20+ years of marketing and product development for big brands at Procter & Gamble. When she saw Joan printing on a gelatin plate, her gears started turning — she was convinced they could build a non-perishable alternative, and she puzzled all the pieces together to make it real. Today she's happily monoprinting in her spare moments, and hosting the studio's online events.
Joan Bess
Joan's path through paper arts spans decades — founder of the rubber-stamp company Emerald City Stamps in 1980, then PaperClips, selling folios of vintage papers for collage. She has taught mixed-media workshops at the Newark Museum and New Jersey's Book Arts Roundtable, shown award-winning work in galleries and private collections, and even landed a piece on the cover of Quilting Arts. Gelatin printing became her “mad passion” — and the seed of the Gelli® Plate.
It started on a gelatin plate.
Joan Bess — a paper-arts veteran with decades in collage, book arts, and mixed media — had fallen for the soft, sensitive surface of gelatin printing. But a gelatin plate is perishable: you have to make it, keep it cold, and use it before it spoils. She kept envisioning a plate that was always ready — non-perishable, room-temperature, the same sensitive surface, and non-toxic.
That's where Lou Ann Gleason came in. With 20+ years launching products for big brands at Procter & Gamble, she saw Joan printing and knew they could make the durable version real. After a lot of research and a little luck, they perfected it — a printing plate that's non-perishable, always ready, non-toxic, and easy to clean and store. The Gelli® Plate was born, and it's been bringing out people's inner artist ever since.
The Teachers who know Gelli® best!
For more than 15 years, Lou Ann and Joan have inspired artists worldwide with the original Gelli® plate. This fall join the world's most loved gel-printing educators — each sharing their expertise to grow your printmaking practice.
Join us for Your Printmaking Journey Fall Edition
