When Jodi Cramond puts her hands on a lump of clay, something inexplicable happens. "It's like somebody else is taking control," Cramond tells AAP. "I don't have to think about clay, I just go 'I want a bird' and there's a bird.
" Cramond has spent years adding to her collection of bird sculptures in the back room of her house in Dubbo, in western NSW, where she also paints and sketches. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. As a high school arts and drama teacher, creativity is not just Cramond's profession but her salve.
Living with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder while recovering from an abusive childhood, sculpture and drawing is where she comes into her own. The hyperfocus trait of ADHD is an essential part of Cramond's craft. "There are those challenges, but they are also the things that give me the gifts I have," she said.
"It's a love-hate relationship with mental health: hyperfocus is the most wonderful thing when you're in it, when the only thing that exists is the thing you're working on and the world just disappears. "I can't explain it to anybody who doesn't have ADHD - it's just delightful." Cramond's mixed media depictions of birds form her first exhibition, Ornibiography, which will show at the Western Plains Cultural Centre until September 15.
An off-beat flock of native Australian birds, including a bright pink Major Mitchell Cockatoo standing to attention, are among her sculptur.
