Learn More About this Mural:

Mandi Caskey, also known as Miss Birdy, is a muralist, gallery artist, and community activist based in Columbus, Ohio. She is a cofounder of Catalyst Columbus, a public art-focused foundation that uses art to address social issues affecting the city. Caskey looks for projects that embed her into the communities and spaces where she is painting. Often continuing whimsical nods to the environment she is in, Caskey’s work organically moves between realism and fantasy within a narrative context. 

Caskey’s time in Springville, New York, is the result of a collaborative project between Springville Center for the Arts and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Public Art Initiative. This residency project involved Caskey living in Springville for a month, where she held workshops with young people, gave talks, and practiced her art. The residency culminated with the execution of the mural A Wish on the Wind.

Caskey’s tale represents the inherent connection humans have with the lands around them. In personifying the earth through the giant, Caskey celebrates the way it provides so much for the living creatures that inhabit it. Details in the mural are pulled from images and research conducted by Caskey on trips made to Springville in the lead up to her residency, especially the mythological giants noted on Indigenous maps she studied at the Concord Historical Society.