On Second Avenue with the Mosaic Man this afternoon

EV Grieve reader Stephen Popkin passes along a few photos of Jim Power, aka the Mosaic Man, continuing his work this afternoon on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place...

Jim has been keeping busy of late, working on mosaics for Tompkins Square Bagels, the Bean and Porchetta.

EV Grieve mosaic

Thank you to Jim Power, aka Mosaic Man, for including EV Grieve on his under-renovation mosaic on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue...

The Mosaic Man is working on the Tompkins Square Bagels sign

Here at 165 Avenue A, Jim "the Mosaic Man" Power has been working on the new sign for the coming-soon Tompkins Square Bagels... he was there yesterday...

...and here's a look at the sign in progress...

...and a few days before that...

And have you been to Jim's new website? It's right here.

Meanwhile, the shop will also exhibit the work of local artists on a regular (monthly?) basis... first up, V.H. McKenzie and her metro used subway transit card art ... She'll be featuring some neighborhood scenes, such as the TSP Ratstravaganza...

She's also soliciting ideas for local/East Village scenes or icons that she could paint on the cards, so if you have an idea...

Previously.

Why the Mosaic Cafe closed

[Dave on 7th]

Yesterday, we reported that Mosaic Cafe had closed on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street... I asked co-owner Rachel Fuchs what happened. Here's her response, via email:

"Business was going well. Unfortunately, we had to close due to issues with the landlord. We are very upset about the whole situation and love the neighborhood... so hopefully we will be able to relocate in the East Village in the near future."

Going underground with the Mosaic Man

In a new entry at Neither More Nor Less, Bob Arihood takes us into the basement workshop of the Mosiac Man, Jim Power. As Bob notes, it's "where Jim and Jesse Jane seem happiest." And perhaps it's the happiest Jim has looked since he was run out of the Cave some four years back?

See the photos here.

What the Mosaic Man needs to continue rebuilding

Earlier today I mentioned a good sign: The Mosaic Man working on refurbishing some of his work on Second Avenue at Sixth Street...

And he posted this message on his blog today:

60 light poles need rebuilding (2 months each) to complete the 80 lightpoles in the project.....now....donate your pottery, dishes etc. and of coarse save a few BUCKS ... cause without it it's over ... pass the word

Meanwhile, EV Grieve reader Glamma noticed this as well: Jim has uncovered the mosaic on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...

A good sign

The Mosaic Man and his apprentice at work early last evening on Second Avenue at Sixth Street.

The Mosaic Man is back on the trail... now with an apprentice

There's a nice piece in the Voice now by Leslie Minora, who files a feature on Jim Power.... Power is in the process of refurbishing his mosaics... and! He has apparently found an apprentice. An excerpt:

Power has also teamed up with Al Bonsignore, a 23-year-old apprentice/patron, to carry on his mission. Two months ago, the older man was walking along First Avenue when Bonsignore recognized his mosaic cane and approached him. Bonsignore, a native New Yorker who has admired the posts since childhood, hit it off with the artist, and the two began an unlikely but serendipitous working relationship. "Yeah, he's hooked; he's done; he's finished. That's it -- Mosaic Man," Power says, jokingly bequeathing his nickname to his protégé.

A month after meeting Power, Bonsignore invited him to work out of the basement of the East 5th Street building owned by his father, John Bonsignore, who runs a plumbing business in Murray Hill and co-owns West Village Bar Little Branch with Milk & Honey mixologist, Sasha Petraske. In return, Power is teaching his craft to Bonsignore, who helps manage the East 5th Street building, and the two are developing plans for future projects and ventures that grow loftier and more intricate by the day.

"It's great for me," says Bonsignore. "It just feels right. It's a great de-stressor; it's a great way to be creative, and it's just fun." (Bonsignore also grows medical marijuana in California.) "Growing and mosaics have been my two main focuses right now -- and music," he says.

Read the whole article here.

[Photo of Al Bonsignore via The Voice]

Mosaic Man rebuilding on Sixth Street and Second Avenue

Two weeks ago, we were wondering if the Mosiac Man was calling it quits on refurbishing his mosiac trail around the neighborhood... as this note spotted last evening on the sidewalk at Second Avenue and Sixth Street would indicate, he's planning on rebuilding, though he could use some financial assistance...




Previously on EV Grieve:
More on the Mosaic Man removing his mosaics

Mosaic removal on St. Mark's Place?

More on the possibly vanishing mosiacs

Continuing our conversation about the possible loss of the mosaics.... Jeremiah Moss shared this photo with me...



We're all hopeful that a Vanishing tribute to these will never have to be written.

More on the Mosaic Man removing his mosaics

Per the earlier post today.... EV Grieve reader Marjorie Ingall passed along these photos from a few weekends ago...




Already this morning, Marjorie and several other readers have written to say that they hope that Jim reconsiders removing the mosaics; that they are vital and iconic part of the neighborhood....

Mosaic removal on St. Mark's Place?

I'm not sure what to make of this... As you can see here, someone wrapped tape around one of Jim Power's mosaics on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue...



The tape has been ripped in part ... but it appears to say "Mosiac Work To Be Removed."



Last I heard, via Neighborhoodr, Jim was coming back to the neighborhood a few days a week to do some repair work on his Mosaic Trail... perhaps this is his print... and he intends to replace it... Or there's something else... there's a recent entry on Jim's blog that reads, "bad day......MOSAIC"S to be covered and REMOVED after 26 years."

As I said at the top, I'm not sure what to make of this...

East Village resident gives a mosaic some love, and Zip-strip

An EV Grieve reader sent me a note the other day, telling me to check out the base of the street lamp at the northeast corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A... where one of Jim Power's colorful, jagged-edged mosaics lives... or once lived. As the reader notes, "Time and thoughtless bureaucracy really fucked this particular piece over. Chunks of it are gone, and someone -- I'm guessing the NYC DoT -- covered it in gray paint ... a travesty. With the arrival of spring I got fed up with seeing it looking so ugly, so I Zip Stripped it ... I ran out of stripper before all the gray paint was off, so it's a work in progress."

So far...




Perhaps Jim Power himself will revisit it soon. At Neighborhoodr, Matt Rosen recently caught up with the Mosaic Man ... As Rosen reports: "Since the weather’s turned, Jim Power ... with dog Jesse Jane in tow, of course, has been spending a few days a week back in the East Village doing some repairs to his trail of light posts."

He has more on Power here.

Mosaic Man short is the winner!

Nice! Earlier today, we mentioned film student Elvis Maynard's Mosaic Man documentary was in the running to be shown on PBS Saturday... and the voters decided!



We'll need to figure out show times...

Thanks to Gothamist for picking it up... and to East Village Feed for letting us know aboutit in the first place...

Help a Mosaic Man short get aired on PBS

Elvis Maynard, a film student at Hunter College, has made a short documentary about Jim Power, the Mosaic Man.

Jim - An East Village Story from Elvis Maynard on Vimeo.

To help this film get on PBS this Saturday, go here to vote for it. Voting ends today at 5 p.m. (Yes, we just found out about this ourselves...)

Thanks to East Village Feed for the tip!

Reminders: Benefit for Mosaic Man tonight at Theatre 80

The Villager has all the details... Slum Goddess has more on it here... As a matter of fact, Eden and John's East River String Band are one of the groups playing a set...

Mosiac Man's work painted over on St. Mark's Place

On the northeast corner at Third Avenue. Did this happen recently? For some reason I never noticed before.

Voice of America features the Mosaic Man

"I'm a history teller," he confesses, "because I put a lot of history into these things that somehow connects. Without the public's involvement it really wouldn't mean anything. Just another piece of work out here. I'm not doing this to stay sane. I came out here to do something. And all I know is one thing, everybody is wondering what they're doing on the planet. I'm not. It's my job. I've no choice." (VOA)

Time Out still making amends for last week's "Mosaic Man" cover snub

In this week's issue.




Previously.

Time Out gives the Mosaic Man some love (a few days later...)

A few of us were curious why Time Out's current cover story on places to eat and drink and go to DBGB and the Cooper Square Hotel and recapture cool and stuff in the East Village didn't include any credit or mention of Jim "the Mosaic Man" Power. A photo of one of his iconic works is on the cover. One commenter even encouraged people to write a letter to the TONY editor. Give Jim his due.

Anyway, for whatever reasons -- perhaps this was already planned! -- a feature on Jim popped up on the TONY Web site yesterday afternoon.



The feature begins:

You probably recognize the image on our cover and homepage this week — and that was the point.