AURORA, Mo. (KY3) – All across Aurora, there are murals showcasing the town’s identity.
“Soaked up all of the Aurora history and the people and the things that we’re passionate about,” Kim McCully Mobley, the co-director of the Aurora Houn’ Dawg Alumni & Outreach Center, said.
The man behind the brush strokes is Raine Clotfelter. You might know him by his alias ‘America’s Muralist.’
“We have been from coast to coast doing murals all across the country, and it’s been fantastic,” Raine said.
Raine’s attention to detail and blending of color is amazing, especially for someone who has never taken an art class.
“I went to school in Antlers, Oklahoma,” Raine said, “and it was a very small school, and they didn’t have art.”
Raine followed his father’s bootsteps by joining the Navy. And despite his lack of experience, he applied to be an illustrator draftsman.
“My portfolio was selected first across the board, and I scored the highest out of all 22 applicants on the exam,” Raine said.
For 23 years, Raine worked with Admirals, command staff, and NCIS. But when he was asked to paint a mural in a conference room in Tulsa, his life changed. One job turned into two, then three, and then his wife, Trish, had an idea.
“‘Why don’t you just go on the road doing murals? That’s what you love to do.’ So I was like, ‘No one’s gonna pay me to do this,’” Raine laughed. “She was right. I was wrong. Of course. You know how that works.”
One of his most well-known works is just down the road from Aurora. Freedom Silo in Monett is one of Harley-Davidson’s must-visit photo ops.
“The last couple of years, I think it was their number one destination out of 10 in America for the motorcyclists to go to,” Raine said. “They have 100 destinations worldwide, and that was also listed in the top 100!”
Now, Raine is back up Highway 60 in Aurora. Outside the Old Armory are two of his murals, while inside, he’s finishing up mural number five for the city’s ‘All Roads Lead Home’ series.
“The postcard sends a message of how important it was to communicate to your soldiers and your loved ones who were fighting,” Kim said. “The idea that people wanted to stay connected and they wanted people to know that they loved them, that they supported them. From near and far. And that’s kind of that message that we wanted to send with that postcard.”
Raine has done roughly 280 murals. But what makes this one unique is it’s the first one he’s doing for America’s 250th birthday next summer.
“But the important part is 250 years of freedom,“ Raine said. ”A lot of countries don’t have that.”
You’re invited to the ribbon-cutting on Friday, August 22. It’s at 11 a.m. at the Aurora School District offices on South Madison.
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