Title: Transit JOY
Artist: Jan Elftmann, Amanda Lovelee, Metro Transit Creative Services and Marketing staff
Material: Variety of media in plexiglass boxes
Description: 15 plexiglass boxes in display at different bus shelters throughout the Twin Cities Metro Area.
In summer 2023, at several bus shelters around the Metro Transit system, art boxes were installed displaying familiar materials used in a unique way. They were framed with colorful overlays through which you could view the art from both sides. Items used included toys, beads, gummy bears, felt balls, moss, and more.
The project was based on a 2018 book “Joyful: The surprising power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness,” by Ingrid Fetell Lee. Eight of the boxes were created by local artist Jan Elftmann, one by public artist Amanda Lovelee, and the rest were created by graphic designers from Metro Transit’s Creative Services team.
The boxes remained up for two months. They will be on permanent display at Metro Transit’s Heywood Office Building at 560 Sixth Avenue North, Minneapolis.
You can read a Northeaster Newspaper article with more detail, here.
Artist: Amanda Lovelee
Artist: Christina McHenry
Artist: Jan Elftmann
Artist: Elissa Erickson
Artist: Kerry Zwierzko
Artists: Ellen Thomson and Leah Janz
Artist: Missy Dodge
Artists
Jan Elftmann is an artist who wants her work to incite conversations between people, to transcend the boundaries we invent so that we don’t have to converse. She is also a local and national coordinator for ArtCar Parades.
Artist’s website: janelftmann.com
ArtCar Parade on Ice, Jan with the Cork Truck
Amanda Lovelee is a civic and environmentally-focused artist who works within government and cross-sector collaborations. She creates bright, joyful, engaging, and complex large-scale public art projects, partnering with arborists, planners, biologists, water resource managers, and scientists.
Artist’s website: amandalovelee.com
Urban Flower Field by Amanda Lovelee