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.
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 sculpture works, alongside delicate fine line drawings of nesting parrots.
Birds are intrinsically linked to her experience with the ups and downs of mental health and trauma recovery.
Observing birds calms Cramond, who has come to see the animals as a symbol of power.
"They're so delicate, yet they still survive," she said.
"Especially on a bad day ... I go home and draw a bird and think about how they don't even know they're resilient, yet they're surviving and living happily.
"If they can do it, I can do it too."
She finds birds particularly fascinating for their strange, almost ugly, appearance.
"They don't care if we think they're ugly, they're just going on about their business.
"There's a lot of people in the world who could benefit from that attitude."
Ornibiography is part of the HomeGround program for emerging artists, which provides training, mentoring and opportunities to exhibit.
Dubbo Regional Council curator Mariam Abboud said Cramond diversified her art practice through the program.
"Jodi's collection is really thought-provoking and asks the audience to look beyond what the society-perceived concept of beauty is and not to judge something at face value," Ms Abboud said.
"It will no doubt raise questions about society's views on beauty and to appreciate beauty in all different forms."
