Sidewalk Show Attracts Artists, Patrons Of All Stripes

Jamie Nervo was an award winner.

The annual Sidewalk Art Show, now in its 52nd year, brought together visual artists, mostly painters and mixed media, and thousands of would-be art patrons on a typically hot summer weekend. That was the scene this past weekend when the Sidewalk Art Show set up in the Market Street area, in the shadow of the Taubman Museum that now sponsors it.  Entry fees from art show exhibitors raised money for the Taubman.

Winners included Best in Show for Gray Dodson of Arrington, Virginia, a landscape painter. Second prize went to Kurt Kindermann of Bedford, while downtown Roanoke sculptor John Wilson took third place honors in a competition judged by Allison Perkins, executive director of the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC.

Jamie Nervo, whose work can often be found in downtown galleries, was awarded the Anstey Hodge award for excellence in design. Nervo’s creations often feature vividly painted animals with arresting, human-like eyes. “I like a lot of colors and patterns … kind of like a patchwork. It’s something that I’ve always done.”

Nervo said foot traffic was good despite the heat; it was only Nervo’s second time at the Sidewalk event. “If you’re a Roanoke artist it’s a good show to be in.”  She added however that outdoor shows “can be exhausting.”

Wilson, a sculptor who welds steel, was pleased to win a third place award in a show that primarily featured two dimensional paintings and photography. He was also pleased with the throngs that turned out, “[including] a lot of people who never look at art or go into a gallery. Often this is the first place [outdoor art shows] where people start collecting.”

Wilson calls himself a “weird sculptor that’s really out there.” It was also his first Sidewalk Art Show, and he said it wouldn’t be the last.  He owns a gallery / living space downtown with his wife, artist Suzun Hughes. He added, “the community’s been very receptive and supportive of our work.”

Dodson had been in a half dozen Sidewalk Art Shows before and had won an award for her painting in the past – but never Best in Show. “It was nice for the type of work I do to be recognized.” Dodson’s landscapes featured rolling hills, farm pasture and blue skies. She paints outdoors “plein air” style and aims for “a sense of place … and something that struck me initially.” That notion apparently won over Perkins, the show judge. Dodson became an artist later in life after raising young children.

Dickie Eikcid – rock and roller, aka “DJ Dickie,” was showing for the first time at a Sidewalk Art Show. His imaginary mixed media work uses spray paint, airbrushing and acrylics, plus pen and ink. Eikcid often creates art on the spot, wherever he may be at the time. He has a booth at Happy’s Flea Market, where his art is for sale every weekend.

“People like it … a lot of my stuff maybe makes people think of their childhood,” said Eikcid as the Sidewalk show wound down last Sunday. “People haven’t seen … my images before. It’s fresh.” No doubt the bevy of new artists that show up every year at the annual Sidewalk Art Show, like Eikcid and Wilson, helps bring people back for the event each year.

By Gene Marrano
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