Hello everyone! This is Jackson and welcome to the 16th interview for my blog, 3 Art Questions With Jackson. This time I interviewed Dana Sikkila Murphy, who is a gallery director, teacher, great artist and much more! I am lucky enough to be in her Project Bike documentary which premieres in Minneapolis on October 20th. Dana is great! I think you will agree! Thank you very much for reading!
Jackson: How did you get the idea for Project Bike? It is such a great idea.
Dana: I got the idea for Project Bike in 2013, I had just taken over being Director of the 410 Project and was looking at myself as a leader and trying to figure out what I could do different than others but still be true to myself. So I took my two passions, biking and art making and combined them together. Why couldn't I bike around the state and meet with artists in their studios or homes? Seemed like a really simple idea and I wanted to make it happen, even though I had never toured on my bike more than two days at a time. In 2015 I received some grant funding for the project which gave me the kick in the butt to do it. So in 2015 I set out for 14 days, biked about 470 miles, and met with 10 artists. Since it was my first year it was really hard for me to convince artists to meet with me and then pack up their art works and allow me to take it on my bike. But with this being the 4th year of Project Bike, it is gained momentum and a great following but it took many years of hard work and trial and error.
Jackson: How did you know you wanted to be an artist? How old were you?
Dana: I grew up in a very small town and there was not very much exposure to arts and culture. When I was young I never knew being an artist or working in the creative field was a actual thing. I did not have a very good high school experience and ended up barely graduating. One thing I did learn about myself in high school was that I learned best from using my hands, building things, making things work through construction. I was lucky enough to be accepted to MNSU for college. After attending one semester my eyes had completely opened up to what art was and that being an "adult" and being an artist was a thing. I had found my group of people and it all took off from there.
Jackson: If you could meet any artist living or dead, who would it be?
Dana: Billie Holiday. Even with many personal struggles she used her music and voice as a platform. She stayed true to who she was and what her voice meant and what it could stand for.