Meet the #MosaicMan on Sun 12:30-4:30 & help him restore the Mosaic Pole at 8th St/3rd Av. Support the restoration! https://t.co/851RcWs3CT pic.twitter.com/Ibr1x89yqJ
— Astor Place NYC (@AstorPlaceNYC) February 24, 2017
Join us in Honoring Jim Power and Dedicating the Mosaic Poles at Astor Place
Thursday, Dec. 1, 4:30 pm
South Plaza, Astor Place
Celebrate the Astor Place Mosaic Trail light poles, honor artist Jim Power and recognize the dozens of private individuals and organizations who have made the restoration project possible.
After remarks by local advocates at the unveiling ceremony, Jim Power, will lead a tour of the restored Mosaic Poles, explaining the inspirations and stories of each. The event also highlights the continued fundraising needs in order to ensure the project is completed to Power's vision. For further event information click here.
Although there were fliers posted in the Village that gave a June 22 date for the art piece’s re-installation, the agency said it is being inspected by a conservator for final preparation.
“NYC Parks has historically contributed its expertise to the upkeep of the Cube,” Parks spokeswoman Maeri Ferguson said in a statement.
"At the last Community Board meeting that I attended recently I was told that my mosaics would be preserved. They said that they would remove the lampposts and then cut them down to preserve the mosaics and try to reinstall them back into the area where they came from. I hope that they keep their word."
The Village Alliance has been getting calls from concerned residents as well, according to executive director William Kelley, who contacted the city Department of Transportation, resulting in a commitment on the D.O.T.’s part to salvage and store the poles until they can be re-incorporated into the streetscape at a later date.
The planned Astor Place redesign will commence this fall and see the temporary removal and storage in a D.O.T. facility of seven of Power’s mosaic poles, according to an emailed statement from the city agency.
“The D.O.T. is working closely with the artist Jim Power and our partners City Lore and the Village Alliance to incorporate the light poles into the new plaza design,” the statement further read.
“I had a meeting with Jim to tell him that we are interested in helping to save them,” Kelley said on Tuesday, adding that there is no immediate danger to the artworks. He said the signs started appearing about two weeks ago, but that “nothing precipitated that” in terms of specific developments in the construction works.
Power decided to take down the Astor Place mosaics as a way to “preserve the identity of a community that is global, that is artistic [and] that is its own beauty," he said.
He plans to incorporate the removed tiles into new mosaics that he will install on lampposts on St. Mark’s Place, he said.
We took a walk east along the trail and photographed every lamp post along it for posterity’s sake. Power, after all, has learned some cruel lessons from Giuliani and now accepts that his art may be ephemeral – especially if funding isn’t found to maintain and restore it.
