Byers completes downtown mural

Artist Malcolm Byers put the finishing touches on the Clarendon ranch heritage mural last Friday, marking the completion of a labor of love that began in June.

The project on the south wall of the REFZ Sports Bar & Grill building at the intersection of US 287 and Kearney has already generated positive comments from hundreds of locals and travelers alike. The art is 70 feet long and 22 feet tall and includes the images of pioneer ranchers John and Cornelia Adair, Alfred Rowe, and Col. Charles Goodnight along with a chuckwagon camp scene that symbolizes the cowboys who worked on ranches throughout history as well as the European influence that helped back some of the biggest ranches in Donley County.

Byers, who grew up on a ranch near Bushland, says he spent about 300 hours on the project which was done all with spray paint and consists of about 60 colors.

“I can’t stress enough how welcoming everyone was with me,” Byers said. “People who grew up on the JA Ranch were giving me facts about the ranch. Ferrol [Shelton] shared pictures of Afred Rowe, and others just stopped to talk.”

Byers thanked local artist Jack Craft for giving him a placed to stay as he wrapped up the project, and the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation board which commissioned the project and spent about a year developing the design with the artist.

“I appreciate y’all’s patience so much,” he said of the CEDC board. “It is rare to have clients who will give you the time and space I had.”

Byers has completed dozens of murals in places like Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, and Claude and as far away as Nashville and Indiana, but none have had the level of detail the Clarendon mural has.

“I think this the most ambitious project I’ve done,” he said. “I spent so much time on it because of the visibility it was going to have.”