An Inside Look at the 50th Art Show
with Kerry Royer
In our last blog, we looked back at the beginnings of the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show with one of the founders of the show, Bruce Johnson. In this blog, we’re turning from the past to the present with current art show director Kerry Royer, as she shares an inside look at this year’s show.
The big 5-0
The displays that flanked the entrance of the art show last year have been recreated this summer with help from the community at various collaborative art sessions. Photo credit: Shannon Fretz, 2023.
For the town of Mount Gretna, the art show is always a big deal. With more than 200 exhibiting artists and voted as one of “200 Best” by Sunshine Artist, there’s no doubt as to why director Kerry Royer calls it “the hallmark event of our town.” So, with the art show celebrating its 50th go-around on August 17 and 18, excitement has been building all year long, “It’s our 50th show, so it’s a real celebration this year that we’ve reached that milestone,” says Royer. “We have some special music performances and we’ve been doing art installations all summer leading up to the show.”
New this year
The Mount Gretna Playhouse, which serves as the home of Gretna Music, Gretna Theatre, and the Original Mount Gretna Cicada Music Festival, will house the inaugural film festival this year.
While a cake and piñatas might suffice for some 50th birthday celebrations, Royer is taking the celebration further by unveiling an entirely new element to the show: the Mount Gretna International Film Festival. Referred to as MTGIFF on the art show website, the festival will take place on Sunday, August 18 from noon – 3 p.m. in the historic, open-air Gretna Playhouse.
“The film festival really encompasses a brand-new art form for us that includes storytelling, writing, acting, cinematography, and it allows artists of a different genre to be a part of a nationally ranked show,” says Royer.
MTGIFF also serves a greater purpose for the Gretna community, “We’re doing this in memory and honor of Michael Evan Deitzler, who was a community member whose dream it was to start a regional film festival,” Royer explains. By honoring the life of Deitzler and his passion for film, the festival “hopes to cultivate and spread the creativity of filmmakers from all over the world by means of coming together and celebrating film ‘Under the Trees of Old Chautauqua.’” (mtgretnaarts.com).
All entries to the festival are short films—five minutes and under—and the winning entries will be awarded and screened during the festival on Sunday. The awards given will include those for standard genres such as horror and comedy, as well as a Lebanon County resident spotlight and a best of high school spotlight.
“Masters of their chosen medium”
Some artists, such as Nathan Carroll pictured here, create works during the art show. Photo credit: Shannon Fretz, 2023.
With 200 artists exhibiting at this year’s show, there’s no shortage of variation among the works that will be on display, “We have many different categories, and the artists exhibiting are really masters of their chosen medium,” says Royer. “We have pottery, ceramics, painting, fabric & fiber, metal work, sculpture, jewelry, precious metals, nonprecious metals, wood, and then every artist’s interpretation of those mediums—mixed media, digital.”
Although the art show no longer follows the 50/50 rule established by its founders, Bruce Johnson and Reed Dixon, in which the show was required to be split equally between 2D and 3D works, the show is still juried. For artists, as explained by Royer, the jury process means that their work must pass through a panel of professional artists and educators which rotates each year. While this ensures the quality of work in the show, it also helps increase variety among the artists chosen, “So, we may not have the same artists back every year because our professional jury is different each year.”
In this year’s show, there will be 45 new artists who have not exhibited at the show before. Additionally, through the art show’s “Emerging Artists Program,” there will be 10 exhibiting artists who have yet to exhibit their work in any shows, “The art show supports the Emerging Artists Program so that we can encourage the next generation of artists to learn the business end of selling their art and having an opportunity to experience what it’s like to exhibit in a major show.”
Putting it all together
A few of those 300 volunteers are members of local boy scout troops, tasked with keeping the grounds clean during the two-day show. Photo credit: Shannon Fretz, 2023.
Kerry Royer has been running the art show since 2018. Attracted to the town’s “convergence of art and nature,” she is a resident of Mount Gretna herself and celebrates the role that the arts play in the town, “I think that Mount Gretna has harnessed the power of the arts to build community,” she states. “There’s really a place for everyone to be involved in the art show.”
And that statement is no exaggeration: Royer shares that it takes around 300 volunteers to transform the small town for the show each August. In talking to visiting artists, Kerry explains that this feat is often a topic of conversation, “They can’t believe what we’re able to put together in this tiny little community,” she says.
Royer admits that it often feels like a puzzle deciding where each artist will display their work around Gretna’s small streets and pathways, but as one who was able to run an art show through a global pandemic and into its fiftieth year, it is of little surprise that Royer rises to the challenge, “I often say that our charm is our challenge, but we make it work,” she chimes.
As the entire Lebanon Valley comes together for the Year of the Arts in honor of the 50th art show, Kerry shares in the celebration of not just the arts, but the way in which the arts are embodied in Mount Gretna, “I think it’s just our unique sense of place. We have this charming community, we set up the tents on the streets that are lined with these Victorian cottages, we have the canopy of the tree, we have our grassy parks, and our historic buildings, and it’s all encompassed in that area.”
Learn more about the art show here!
About Kerry Royer
In addition to her expertise in the arts, Royer has an academic background in writing.
Kerry Royer has been in her role as the director of the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show since 2018. She serves as the vice board chair of Visit Lebanon Valley and as a board member of the Mount Gretna Arts Council. With a master’s degree in art education from Penn State University and a graduate certificate in arts in medicine from the University of Florida, Royer also works as manager of arts and music programs at healthcare facilities. She recently authored “Porches of Mount Gretna: A Photo Journal” alongside photographer Shannon Fretz. The book can be found at the Mount Gretna Visitor Center, Mount Gretna Area Historical Society, and MG Mercantile. Royer resides with her family in Mount Gretna.
By Darby Seymour, Public Relations Manager, Visit Lebanon Valley
