A Talk with 410 Project Director Dana Sikkila
F By Grace Brandt
or the last five years, Mankato resident and artist Dana Sikkila has organized a truly impressive summer road trip. As director of the volunteer-run 410 Project art gallery, Sikkila has mapped out routes across Minnesota to collect works of art from artists all over the state, creating a new exhibit every year. In the last five years, she has covered more than 2,500 miles—and she has done it all on her bicycle. Really, it’s all there in the name: Project Bike. “It was kind of a project that was really based around my two passions: art making and biking,” Sikkila explained. “A lot of times [as an art director] you look at artwork on your computer and then it’s mailed into the gallery, and then people look at it and it’s mailed back. There’s no real connection between the gallery and the artist, let alone the gallery and the where they’re making their work. This was really diving into the very first steps of the artwork being made. The point of the project was to really highlight artists, especially artists living in the area, and showcase them being artists.” Every year, the project has grown and expanded, but Sikkila eventually decided to stop touring and push herself in other ways. Her 2019 ride was her last. But even though Sikkila isn’t biking across CONTINUES ON PAGE 20
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