Get up close with Saline’s Bixby marionettes in this new immersive online exhibit
SALINE, MI – Marionettes handcrafted by Saline puppeteer Meredith Bixby delighted children across the country through shows based on stories like “Pinocchio,” “Aladdin” and “Treasure Island” for more than 40 years. Thanks to the work of an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit that leverages technology to bring art and artifacts to the virtual masses, Bixby’s famed marionettes have made the jump to an immersive online gallery. “It’s really a miraculous thing,” said Katherine Downie, chair of the Saline Arts and Culture Committee and a subcommittee that manages the Bixby collection, entrusted to the city by Bixby before his death in 2002. The virtual opera house now hosts an online exhibit with the models of the marionettes and pieces of the Bixby collection, including a model of the puppeteer’s traveling stage, built of the boxes it traveled in. Even before that idea becomes a reality, it has given a boost to Bixby’s marionettes.
mlive.com