Downtown

Paint covers memorial mural

A mural dedicated to a Tucson man killed by a drunken driver has disappeared under a new coat of paint, leaving the artists and the man's family in search of a new memorial site. It was five years ago this month that the original artwork was dedicated to Sean Burlew, a Native Seeds Search gardener who died during a rainy Thanksgiving weekend in 1998. The artists and Burlew's mother, Linda Blosser, hope to create a second mural elsewhere since the one at 101 W. Fifth Street is gone. Michael Schwartz of the Tucson Arts Brigade said he doesn't want to demonize whoever repainted the wall, but he was upset when he drove by in early January and saw it was gone. "It didn't make sense to me,'' said Schwartz, 39. "It felt like a slap in the face, a real sharp slap." But he said he has since reconciled that with the fact that the property owner had a right to paint it. "We do hope to do a new work that's dedicated to Sean, that somehow expresses the values he embodied,'' he said. The Pima County Assessor's Office lists Rich Rodgers Central Inc. as owner of the property, and Arizona Corporation Commission records say Rodgers is president of the corporation. Rodgers declined interview requests. Blosser, who lives in Phoenix, often visited the colorful tribute to her son when she came to Tucson. She said it was usually her second stop after tending to the roadside cross where her son died. During her last visit in November, she left flowers at the foot of the painting. Burlew died after Robert Dale Mundell, who is serving a 6.5-year prison sentence, turned his Chrysler Sebring in front of Burlew's motorcycle in the 15800 block of North Oracle Road. Mundell's blood-alcohol content was 0.19 - nearly double the legal limit at that time. Blosser wonders if the mural would still be there if it was known what the painting meant to Burlew's loved ones and the artists who worked on the piece. "You could feel the compassion, the friendship, the love that this group of young people put into the painting,'' she said. The mural included several illustrations pertaining directly to Burlew, including paintings of the crash site and the organic plants he cultivated as well as the palm prints of his goddaughter, Luna Soto. Elisa Duran said she's outraged that the mural is gone. Duran, 23, of Albuquerque, worked on it and continues to serve on the board of directors for the Tucson Arts Brigade. Susan Silverman, president of the Arts Brigade, said the mural was well under way when Burlew died. The group, many of them his friends, decided to dedicate it to his memory. "We've lost the memorial to a great friend of the community. It's a double tragedy,'' she said. Burlew, who was 27, tended a garden at the Pascua Yaqui Senior Center, where he and elementary schoolchildren grew herbs, corn, squash, beans and watermelons. He was also a cyclist and an environmental activist who championed endangered red squirrels, the protection of forest land and the reintroduction of wolves. Schwartz said they received permission to paint the mural from Rodgers before starting on it in 1998. He estimates replacing the mural would cost as much as $30,000. "When you add in all the volunteer hours, it ends up being a major work of public art,'' he said. He said they held three fund-raisers to pay for the mural, which took nearly 50 artists about a year to complete. If a second mural is created, Schwartz said, they will try to get a written agreement with the property owner that it won't be destroyed.