Suzi Van Ness has posted a new message on her homegrown billboard-of- hope that may add cheer to both humans and their four-legged best friends:
SHARE JOY
“WAG”
YOUR TAIL!
Van Ness earlier this month turned a big picture window into a kind of billboard, with hand-lettered messages that she hopes will lift the spirits of people going past and her husband Dave’s home at 65 Carroll Ave., Newport.
She figures that during the COVID-19 crisis – which demands that people keep away from one another to curb person-to-person spread of the contagious coronavirus – that it’s important to act as a caring community and stay connected.
In her case, she realized that the Van Ness’s picture window presented such an opportunity, since it faces a sidewalk on Carroll Avenue often busy with people out for a stroll – usually taking care to keep 6-feet or more distances from one another.
The first message, as reported in What’s Up Newp on April 6, was:
WE CAN
DO THIS
If it seems that the messages have a certain artistic style to them, it’s no accident. Van Ness is a retired art teacher. Thus, her displays seem at first glance to be hand-sewn tapestries; in fact, they’re painted with foam brushes on sheets of “banner” paper.
Since the COVID-19 containment measures prescribed by state and city officials are expected to last a while, Van Ness plans to change her messages periodically.