Photo submitted to Times Observer Organizers are hopeful the 14th Annual Art in the Wilds juried art show will be held in late June in Kane’s Evergreen Park, “but at the same time, we recognize the realities presented by the coronavirus pandemic and are working on some alternative plans,” said Marilyn Blackmore.

“The show must go on. Or, at least, the planning for it.”

That’s the word from Marilyn Blackmore, Executive Director of Kane’s successful Art in the Wilds juried art show.

“But, at the same time, we recognize the realities presented by the coronavirus pandemic and are working on some alternative plans,” she said.

The 14th annual art show, a popular event on the region’s summer calendar, is scheduled to be held in Kane’s Evergreen Park on June 27 and 28. Organizers are hopeful that since the traditional date of the fourth weekend in June for both Alumni Weekend and the art show fall late this year the social distancing guidelines will have been eliminated and both events will be able to take place safely.

Art in the Wilds is the longest running juried art show in the Pennsylvania Wilds region and provides an economic boost to Kane, as well as surrounding communities. “This year, as never before,” Blackmore added, “that economic boost, and just the joy of an opportunity to get together, will really be welcome.”

If the CDC guidelines remain in place long enough to interfere with plans to hold the art show in Evergreen Park, plans are underway to create a unique and innovative “virual art show,” explained Merry Ryding, the AIW Assistant Director.

“We are not exactly sure how that will work yet,” Ryding said. “But properly designed, it could provide a model, not just for artists, but for other businesses to operate online in these uncertain times.”

Art in the Wilds has grown over the years to be nationally acclaimed and was recognized in 2018 by Sunshine Artist magazine as one of America’s eleven must-attend shows for artists and craftspeople.

Major sponsors for the show include Zook Motors, Ed and Julie Malmstrom, Richgas, and the Northwest Charitable Foundation, Inc.

This year the largest pool of artists applied to participate in the show.

The field of applicants was narrowed based on a rating system of a panel of professional artists, academics, and art promoters who reviewed the online photos included with each application. This process assured Art in the Wilds will offer high quality original art created in acrylics, oils, watercolors, photography, jewelry, sculpture, ceramics, wood, leather, and other media.

Forty artists from throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York have now been notified they have been accepted into the show.

Local and regional artists selected to participate include:

Rocky Holland, Kane, nature photography;

Jack Northrop, Kane, wood turned vessels and walking sticks;

Peggy Houser, Kane, seed bead jewelry;

Roland and Geno Boni, Ridgway, functional pottery;

Al Dornisch, Ridgway, acrylic wildlife paintings and reproductions;

Denise Drummond, Bradford, graphite drawings and watercolor paintings.

Deborah Moyer, Warren, hand fabricated metal jewelry;

Ellen Paquette, Warren, animal portrait acrylic painting;

Robert Vrboncic, Marienville, wood jewelry boxes, cutting boards and sculptures.