VIRGINIA BEACH, V.a. (WAVY) — If you’ve driven by the Virginia Beach oceanfront recently, you’ve probably noticed the new 7,000 square foot mural honoring the COVID-19 frontline workers.
10 On Your Side’s Madison Glassman featured the mural last month, and she caught up with the artist who unveiled a new interactive addition.
There’s now nine places for people to stand, mimic a painted figure and take a photo. Above the figure is people wearing gloves and masks clapping for frontline heroes, including Virginia Beach native Pharell Williams.
Once you take the 9 photos, you can animate them, creating movement in the art.
Sam Welty, the artist said he felt it was important for people to connect to the piece.
“The point of this interactive thing down here is so that you can come out and take this artwork, the community and make it your own,” Welty said. “Every times a new person does this, it’s something new. It’s a new message of gratitude to the health care and service industry.”
This is what the mural looked like about three weeks ago.
Now, you can see the frontline heroes are painted with vibrant blues, greens and reds.
If you’d like to see the mural yourself, it’s located on 24th Street and Pacific Avenue behind the Blue Marlin Motel.