Elections for 2024 & 2025
Positions on the Ballot at the end of an odd year ...
Officers assume their positions on the 1st of January. AGS Officers and Board Members hold offices for 2 years and one-half of the offices are elected/re-elected every year. The biennial elections being held December 2023 are for the 2024 & 2025 years and the offices include 2 Vice Presidents, 2 Directors-At-Large, and Treasurer. The vote can be done online or by mailing in the ballot at the bottom of this page (or the copy in the Fall issue of The Gourd Magazine).
Choose 2 Vice-Presidents from these Candidates or Write-In VP (incumbent) Candidate 1. Robin Bryson, Quail Valley, California Robin creates and teaches gourd art around the country…probably at a show near you. She has also been showing and educating the Art League members that gourd art can also be fine art. The only difference is that the gourd is another form of canvas - finally convincing the non-believers that gourds can indeed be fine art - and eventually a category for them was created among the other categories to be judged. She has served as Secretary and Treasurer in the Art League and Vice President for AGS for several years and is willing to serve for another 2-year term. VP (new) Candidate 2. Celia Shaneyfelt, Old Fort, TN Celia Shaneyfelt has been serving as a Director-at-Large since 2017 and is willing to serve another 2-year term as a Vice President, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Bonnie Gibson. Celia has been growing gourds since 2014. She joined the American Gourd Society in the Fall of 2015 after visiting Betty Finch and realizing that there was more to gourds than just bird houses. Celia plunged into every aspect of gourds: growing, manipulation, teaching, photography and a variety of crafting techniques. She enjoys experimenting with new gourd ideas and takes classes to learn new techniques. She also has fun creating recipes using young gourds as ingredients. Celia has contributed gourd growing and manipulating articles in The Gourd Magazine and currently serves on two AGS committees: the Chapter Relations Committee and as chairperson for the Jim Story Award Committee. She is a Master Gardener and teaches violin & fiddle. Choose 1 Treasurer or Write-In Treasurer (incumbent) Candidate. Philip Moorhead, Marion, Indiana Philip Moorhead has been the AGS Treasurer for 2 years and is willing to serve for another 2-year term. He is on the Judging and Jim Story Committees and is a certified Judge Instructor teaching classes both in person and online. He grows and contorts gourds following the teachings of Jim Story. In his spare time, he has crafted gourds, is a woodworker and wood carver. Phil is a cyber security professional, holds many national and international certifications in the computer and security fields, and is well-known at state and national levels. Philip holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification and is a member of Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). Phil has been the Indiana state gourd show chairperson, Treasurer and is Editor and Publisher for the IGS magazine, The Tendril. Choose 2 Directors-at-Large or Write-in Director (new) Candidate. Barbara McGeachy, Raleigh, NC Barbara discovered gourds by attending a few N.C. Gourd Art & Craft festivals starting in 2005. She really got crafting with gourds when she took a week-long class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in 2012 with Fonda Haddad. Barbara taught basket weaving and gourd art for several years at the NCSU Crafts Center. A retired software engineer, her main hobby is genealogy but she continues to enjoy gourd crafting. She is the Secretary of the North Carolina Gourd Society and has been on the festival planning committee for several years. Director (new) Candidate. Troy Tatum, Griffin, GA Troy majored in art at Georgia State University and spent 40 years in the graphic arts/printing industry. After retiring he resides in Griffin, Georgia with his wife Ellen. It was Ellen who introduces him to gourd art at the 2007 Gourd Gathering in Cherokee. Troy is infatuated with the gourd as a canvas. Pyrography and carving have become his preferred gourd techniques and he often combines other techniques with them to create his gourd designs. In the past few years, the majority of his gourd art has been projects he could teach to others. He has taught at the Gourd Gathering since 2009 and teaches gourd art at patch meetings and gourd shows all around the south. “Gourd art is only limited by our imagination and our imagination is enhanced by the possibilities that gourds present.” Troy has served as a director for the Georgia Gourd Society and the show chair for the Georgia Gourd Society’s annual gourd show, GourdFest for the past ten years and is currently serving as president of the Georgia Gourd Society. He is a member of the Flint River Gourders and the Griffin Spalding Art Association. He is also a member of the Alabama Gourd Society, Florida Gourd Society, South Carolina Gourd Society and a member and Certified Judge/Instructor of the American Gourd Society. |
How to Vote:
Nominating Committee
Reagan Bitler, PA Terry Noxel, NY Teller Committee Terry Noxel, NY Dallas Lunsford, IN Positions that are on the 2023 Ballot
2nd Vice President 3rd Vice President Treasurer Director 1 Director 2 |