BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hope brings 40 years of business operation experience encompassing a wide variety of industries. Most of her career has been as a business consultant in roles related to the sales, implementation, and support of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software solutions. ERP solutions encompass all aspects of business from sales, to operations through to financials.
Hope has lived in the Edom area since 2011. She acts, directs and serves on the board of the Edom Civic Theatre and she is on the decorating team for the Edom Art Festival. Hope has a passion for helping others identify their gifts and gain experience in using them. Couple this with her love for kids, theatre, art, music, and food then you’ve found her desire to make Edom ART Lab happen!
Beth Brown is a lifelong entrepreneurial artist. She began her career by starting a leather goods business in 1973, selling to boutiques and attending art festivals, and as her work evolved, she was accepted into prestigious fine craft shows throughout the country.
Beth moved to Edom in 1991 and opened a leather accessory shop. She soon fell in love and began co-producing the Edom Art Festival with founder and husband Doug Brown. Three years later, Beth closed up her leather accessory shop and became a potter full-time working in partnership and collaboration with Doug Brown, in Potters’ Brown. Beth directed the Edom Art Festival in partnership with Doug Brown and the Tyler Art Museum from 2001-2006. She took over Directorship of the Edom Art Festival in 2018 and remains at its helm to this day. Beth is involved with the Edom Craft Community non-profit and has been on the board for 10 years. She also stays involved in Edom Chamber of Commerce activities as well as town projects and improvements. After the death of Doug Brown in 2020, Beth sold Potters’ Brown in 2021 to what she feels is the next generation to bring it forward into the future.
Beth’s focus since retirement is simply to keep Edom’s legacy of fine art, founded by Doug, alive. She is always on the search for new artists for the Edom Art Festival. Beth firmly believes in looking forward and she has a passion for supporting young artists in their endeavors, training them to survive in the arts, helping them to hone their craft and present themselves professionally.
Mary Wilhite has been a resident of the Edom community for over 40 years. She is an entrepreneur and former local business owner. Starting with a small greenhouse in her backyard, she grew her business, Blue Moon Gardens, into a retail nursery/garden center with over $1 million dollars in annual sales. Wilhite shared her business with her business partner Sharon Smith for 38 years, then sold the business and retired to pursue her craft of felting. She still maintains a studio at her former business where she sells her art and teaches classes.
Mary has a number of years of experience as a member of the Board of Directors on several business and civic organizations including the Texas Herb Growers and Marketers Association, Texas Landscape and Nursery Association and the Edom Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves on the board of the Dallas Area Fiber Artists where she is the editor of their electronic newsletter.
Georgia Christensen is the Owner and CEO of GLC&Co. Design, a consulting firm providing graphic design, art direction and styling services in the Dallas Fort Worth area as well as Santa Fe.
Prior to establishing GLC&Co, Georgia served in executive creative leadership roles for Neiman Marcus, Talbots, Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret where she was instrumental in developing marketing concepts as well as reshaping their overall brand identities by setting new design and photography directions for print, web and broadcast. Early on, her work at Neiman Marcus changed the creative landscape of high-end retail marketing with the introduction of The Art of Fashion and The Book – a magazine designed to feature merchandise photographed by such notable artists such as Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, and Annie Leibovitz among many others.
Throughout her career, her work continually garnered national recognition and awards including a Cleo aswell as Time Magazine naming The Art of Fashion one of the top 10 advertising campaigns of the year.
Georgia has served on several boards in Dallas as well as East Texas which have included, Titas Presents, Spark! Dallas, Van Zandt Art & Culture District and The Edom Area Chamber of Commerce.
Monty O’Neil is an owner of O³ Collective Art Gallery and Gift Shop in Downtown Edom, but recently retired after 23 years teaching high school art at Skyline and North Mesquite high schools. He taught Art 1, Basic Design, Advanced Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, and Advanced Placement Studio Art. Eleven years of his career also included teaching Peer Assistance and Leadership classes. Monty now lives full-time near Edom.
Monty has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and usually found a way to incorporate his love of art and creativity. His first major business venture was a rubber stamp manufacturing company he started while still in high school. He also owned a commercial screen-printing business for several years after moving to Dallas, prior to the start of his career in education.
Monty is currently on the Board of The Edom Chamber of Commerce and has held Board positions with The Marfa Chamber of Commerce, and the Dallas Area Art Teacher’s Association. He also has non-profit experience working with the late Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.
Julie Chow is a technology executive with two decades of experience helping businesses harness data and leverage AI to drive innovation. At the intersection of creative expression and advanced technology, she is passionate about empowering all generations—especially youth—to explore how AI can expand artistic possibilities within a practical, business-minded framework.
A resident of Edom since 2021, Julie is also a mother of two incredible girls, an avid amateur gardener, theater enthusiast, and lifelong learner (currently chasing the perfect sourdough). She believes deeply in fostering intergenerational connection through curiosity, creativity, and shared experiences.
Jill Dickerson is a Nurse Leader, creative problem solver, and Oncology Nurse for over 30 years, with extensive experience in an outpatient cancer center, including the leadership of a multidisciplinary team.
Jill is a long-time resident of Edom, the mother of two amazing sons, a volunteer for the Edom Art Festival and the Edom Civic Theatre, not to mention an artist with many interests.