Claire Lawton

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photo by Claire Lawton (2012)

Mural by Rose Johnson

​If you take a drive down 16th Street in Phoenix, you might notice a few coats of fresh paint on sections of the Mercer Mortuary building at 1541 E. Thomas Road. 

The mural was originally painted by local artist Rose Johnson and a group of students in 1998. It's in her signature style; large, stylized figures of all colors and races overlap. Their hands carry a waving rainbow flag, form peace signs, and release white doves across eight panels that wrap around the building. 

The mural was (and is) a symbol of peace and unity that was painted long before the area became known as Calle 16, where bright murals by local artists pop up on a regular basis.

Almost 14 years after Johnson finished the mural on Mercer Mortuary, the paint is chipping, and tags occasionally cover the faces and blocks of pastels.

It was on one of her daily commutes to work that a Phoenix resident named Rebecca DeWitt noticed the mural's deteriorating state and decided to make a few phone calls. 

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​Yeah, yeah, recycling is hot. And it's even better when you can use (and reuse) paper goods that often serve a one-time purpose. But throw a binding and a cover on that stack of paper, and you've got yourself a book -- maybe it's something you had to read in high school or something your friend gave you and said you had to read.

That thing you're holding is the paper version of what you can also find online, on a tablet, on your phone, on your computer, through your augmented-reality glasses -- whatever. It's an artform that bibliophiles are doing everything they can to keep together, when what's (scarily) becoming more popular is cutting them apart.

Sure, we get it; A book can make a great base for an art project. And who said a range of media was a bad thing? It's not. But, there's just something about defacing a book that makes that same noise the dentist's scraper does as it trails across an upper molar. Here's why ...  

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photos by Claire Lawton

​​When the Sydell Group in New York announced last year that it had purchased a hotel property in Scottsdale, Manhattan could probably hear the squeals of delight coming from New Times' Phoenix office.More >>