Downtown Roanoke’s 51st Annual Sidewalk Art Show drew thousands of visitors to the streets surrounding the Market building last weekend, with 160 artists of all stripes in position to show off – and sell – their work. The Sidewalk Art Show, a fundraiser for the Taubman Museum of Art’s education programs, wound its way up Salem Avenue to the front of the museum.
For the past several years, the Sidewalk Art Show has also been a juried one, with ribbons handed out in various categories. Polly Ayers Bixler, who previously hosted a daytime television show on WDBJ, won in the mixed media category.
“For my first show, I was tickled to death,” said Bixler, who used vintage photographs and items (buttons, pens, fabric, etc.) found at yard sales and flea markets to build 3-D collages.
It was the first time Bixler had exhibited her artwork. One piece features her mother, in a 1922 photo taken at Highland Park.
“My heart is in collecting [and now] I do it all day,” said Bixler, an Old Southwest Roanoke resident. She’s hoping to find gallery space for her unique work soon.
