Robert Dafford is one the most prolific and successful muralists in America, with over 500 large scale public works completed throughout the U.S. and also in France, Belgium, England, and Canada.
He was awarded the Bronze Medaille d’Honneur de la Suresnes in Suresenes (Paris) France for his work, “Horizon”, a mural series of flying violins in several countries simultaneously. They represent music and art breaking through barriers of language, politics, etc. and connecting the peoples of our cities.
He was awarded a silver medal by the city of Nantes, France for his mural “Departure des Acadians pour Nouvelle Orleans 1768", a 14' x 40' painting twinned with the 12' x 30' “Arrival of the Acadians” at the memorial Monument des Acadians in St. Martinville Louisiana.
Over a span of thirty years Dafford has painted twenty large scale canvasses depicting the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadie (now Nova Scotia) in 1765, and the various places Acadians were scattered in the world, leading to their settlement in Louisiana, where they are now known as the Cajuns. Reproductions of these paintings have been used in numerous textbooks, articles, books, and in film and video productions by such groups as BBC, CBC, PBS, History Channel and others
He has received numerous awards and recognitions for these and other mural works. He has been featured or mentioned in Smithsonian, National Geographic, and Southern Living magazines; NY Times, Seattle Times, LA Times, Ottawa Sun, Le Droit, and countless other newspaper, television, and on-line programs and articles.
Dafford says that the research and development of the genesis of this body of work in the seventies is what made him an historical painter.
His work in the Chemainus Mural Festival on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, led him to the concept of a comprehensively organized program of local history murals as tourism attractions.
Since 1988 he has worked extensively in the Ohio River valley, mostly in smaller cities revitalizing their old downtowns, with several interconnected goals in mind - historic preservation, education, and economic development. For his success in achieving these goals, Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, bestowed upon him a Doctorate of Humane Letters in Oct, 2003.He has received numerous awards in areas of tourism, political, artistic and civic achievements from federal, state, and city organizations.
His multidecade project in Portsmouth Ohio is now over 60 murals, over 2,000 feet long, covering over 42,000 square feet. His project in Paducah Kentucky now numbers over 50 murals. He has other ongoing historic district mural projects in Vicksburg, MS; Maysville, KY; Jeffersonville, IN; Point Pleasant, WV;, Lafayette, LA; as well as individual projects in New Orleans and at least twenty other cities. He and his unique crew of artists cover more square footage than the Sistine Chapel every couple of years.
He works with local artists in every city with an interest in developing young talent. Many of these younger artists becoming lifelong members of his extended artist family, and becoming successful professional artists in their own right.