Twilight / Dedication Panel / Muralist Robert Dafford

A mural presents a modern twilight view of downtown Portsmouth from Kentucky, with the U.S. Grant Bridge connecting to Chillicothe Street, while muses at both ends represent the art and history contained in the floodwall murals painted by internationally famous muralist Robert Dafford of Lafayette, Louisiana. The bridge was razed in 2001 and replaced with a new cable-stayed U.S. Grant Bridge. In October 2002, the Portsmouth community saw the completion of a project that had taken ten years to create. Beginning in 1993, Robert Dafford painted the history of Scioto County and Portsmouth on a massive floodwall holding back the Ohio River. Designed and funded by the Portsmouth Murals, Inc. Board of Trustees, the Floodwall Mural Project became one of the largest outdoor art exhibits in the world, using a concrete canvas 20 feet high and more than one-third of a mile long. With help from local historians, citizens, and old photographs, Dafford created a historic portrait of the Portsmouth area that gave the city a window to its past.

Portsmouth, Ohio · United States