A familiar landmark in Burien’s Seahurst Park will disappear in the next year or so.

The large sculpture that greets visitors by the vehicle turnaround will be removed this year or next in conjunction with the park’s seawall project.

Burien Councilmember Jack Block Jr. has referred to it as “Burien’s fertility symbol.”

Visitors dub it the “Donut Sculpture.”

“Please don’t call it that,” pleads Gina Kallman, Burien Parks cultural arts supervisor.

Kallman says the artist has named it, “Taurus,” after the second sign of the zodiac, whose mascot is the bull.

King County commissioned the work by Guemes Island-based artist Thomas Lindsey in 1977 for placement in the regional park.

The park’s northern beach is slated to be returned to its natural state to match the southern beach. With removal of the seawall, the sculpture has to go, Kallman reports.

She said, originally, the city planned to move it to another location at Seahurst Park.

Unfortunately, the piece is in bad shape.

The sculpture’s lifespan was estimated at 15-20 years so “the artist was amazed how long it lasted,” according to Kallman.

So the piece or pieces of the piece will go back to Lindsey. Fortunately for the city, 4Culture, the county’s arts arm, will pay for the removal.

It’s not known when the artwork will go away because the beach naturalization and seawall project is dependent on federal funding.

“There’s a lot of waiting,” Kallman observed.

But art won’t disappear from the park, Kallman insists. The city has budgeted $9,000 for smaller-scale artwork to be placed around the park. Another large piece would be too expensive, she noted.

The new artwork is part of Burien’s $33,500 public art plan, approved by the city’s Arts Commission.

The plan also includes a sculpture or fountain in the atrium outside the community center’s entryway. The piece will be designed and fabricated by the welding program students at the Puget Sound Skills Center. The cost is estimated at $2,000 but the skills center students may also produce other temporary artwork projects based on budget availability.

The largest plan expenditure is for artwork along the Ambaum Boulevard transit corridor. The city has budgeted $14,500 to install metal-cut bus shelters and temporary artworks, such as banners or painted bus shelters.

Another $8,000 is earmarked for temporary artwork around town in addition to maintenance and repairs, public art signs and a public art brochure with map.

One park visitor who is sad to see the Seahurst sculpture go is Burien resident Aaron Filion.

All it needs is a little polishing, he observed.

Likening the sculpture to a stately old tree, Filion said everything possible should be done to save it.

Filion, a painter, notes, “There is always room in the world for more art.”

The sculpture’s removal reminds Filion of the fate of a wall mural he spent 100 hours creating in a house. A contractor painted over it even though Filion noted it would have been perfect for the next tenant.

“It’s disheartening that he didn’t value it enough to keep it,” Filion declared.

As for the opinion of Cairo, Filion’s 3 ½- year-old son who visited the park with his dad, Filion joked, “It’s too big to play on. He doesn’t care.”