Drawing a shoe is a common assignment for students and artists. Why? Most of us not only have shoes, but we often have many kinds — roller skates, sneakers, sandsals and work boots.

Alexis Sablone began skating, mostly alone, at age 9 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. At 16, she debuted in the cult favorite skate video P.J. Ladd’s Wonderful, Horrible, Life (2002) with a minute ...