New mosaic mural going up in Owego’s historic downtown

OWEGO, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – A new mural is going up in Owego’s Downtown historic district, that spells out the name of the town, with animals.

Mosaic Artist Emily Jablon is working with members of the Owego Rotary to create a series of five mosaics each of a different animal, that will be on display in the alleyway between the Roasted Coffee Bar and the Ladies Boutique Downtown.

This is the first piece of public art that is sponsored by the Tioga Arts Council and the Owego Rotary.

If you take the first letter of each animal, it spells out Owego.

The animals are an Osprey, a woodchuck, an Eastern Newt, a Golden Flapper fish, and a one eyed sloth, which is actually a moth.

Jablon says compared to her previous work, depicting animals is one of the harder projects she’s ever done.

“The nature of doing an animal mosaic, is very different from the work I normally do. It has to be very detailed; the pieces are very small. We’re working with very very small pieces of glass that have to be placed perfectly. We’re using tweezers to maneuver with the glass. It’s just more challenging than my other mosaics,” says Jablon.

The group is currently about 60% done with the Osprey.

They have met once a week for the past month and hope to have all five mosaics done and ready to be installed by the new year.

Jablon says Owego asked for the mosaic to be removable, in case updates need to be made.

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