Robert Dafford

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Floodwall mural commemorating Portsmouth, Ohio area earthworks

Robert Dafford is an American muralist b. May 14, 1951. He is a native and current resident of Louisiana. Dafford has painted about 300 murals across the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, and England. He has been painting murals and fine art paintings for 35 years. In the past fifteen years, Dafford has concentrated on working along a 1,000 mile stretch of the Ohio river, painting over two hundred large historical images of cities on their floodwalls, using trompe l'oiel, advanced perspective, and realist technique. Many riverboat tours make stops along the Ohio river specifically to see his murals. Dafford is best known for his murals in Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and his giant 'Clarinet' in New Orleans. The over 60 consecutive Portsmouth murals stretch over 2,000 feet (610 m)and cover 44,000 sq ft. Dafford's murals are created with the purpose of boosting downtown development in small communities.