2025 Original Artwork by Artist Duo Osiris Rain & Emily Ding

This design on The U at Park East depicts a playful, imaginative scene of an unlikely group waiting for a car together. The act of hitchhiking is tied to vehicle travel and road tripping, a nod to the roots of Route 66 while exploring the spirit of adventure and open road in a broader sense. The road sign itself is also subtly featured in the piece as an homage to the Mother Road as the city looks to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of the Birthplace of Route 66.

This design features regional fauna like a whitetail deer, wild rabbit, bobcat, eastern bluebird, and box turtle. The colorful animals are stylized, and could also be interpreted as spirits of the road, protectors for the traveling individual on her journey. The piece is framed by silhouettes of colorful native flora, adding a dreamlike and ethereal quality to the journey and nodding back to Ozark roots.