Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
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continued on page 66 photography by Katrina WittKamp (Kelley) H er business card reads "Project Coordina- tor" for the Chicago Transit Authority, but Elizabeth "Lee" Kelley is actually a doy- enne of the city's art scene. An art historian with a master's degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Louisville (not to mention an art-savvy spouse in local sculptor Terrence Karpowicz), Kelley is currently manag- ing the CTA's $3.5 million initiative to increase public art in 15 recently rehabilitated Red Line stations. As she prepares to unveil several of the a r t works, Kelley sha res w it h Michigan Avenue some of her favorite pieces, her passion for the neighborhoods she's come to know through her work, and the function of public art for the CTA. "After coming to Chicago to get my master's, I went to Louisville to get my PhD, but I loved the city and wanted to come back and be in a vibrant place to finish researching my dissertation. I also wanted to work first, so I got a job directing an outdoor sculpture exhibition at Navy Pier. Then I met the director of the city's public art program and said, 'I've been researching my dissertation, and to avoid losing my mind I'd really like to do something. Do you need an intern? I'll work for free.' He hired me for a six-month project. Eventually I got his job and was with the city for 12 years. That's when I first became involved with public art in CTA stations. "Art on the CTA works differently from other public art in Chicago. It needs to be colorful and lively and perk up the surroundings, and it's intended to enhance the transit experience. Artists must consider the location of the station— the neighborhood, the cityscape, the community it serves, the architecture, and the way people use that station—and the artists' challenge is to represent their personal aesthetic in a very public location and for a very broad audience. "I used to live in Streeterville and now I'm in Bridgeport, which is emerging as the new hip Station to Station This summer, ElizabEth "lEE" KEllEy is helping Transform The CTa inTo a CiTywide Canvas for large-sCale publiC arT. by brian justice elizabeth "Lee" Kelley (left) in front of jason Pickleman's Mont/Rose: Area in the brown Line's Montrose station. below: jim bachor's installation in the thorndale station. 64 michiganavemag.com native