The Origins of Ornithomorphizm

Back in the 90’s, when I first made the original drawings of my little creations – (before I thought they would be fun in 3-D format) - I dubbed them Ornithomorphism, meaning kind of the opposite of humans endowing non-human animals with human-like perceptions, motives and desires…and I even fielded the many finished drawings to several greeting card companies, and felt the term ‘rejection’ from all but one! They bought the original and I never found out if that company actually used it in their line… it was my design of a sailorbird at a ship’s wheel - and under a banner of nautical flags spelling “Congratulations” (which was the card company’s suggested addition to it – to give proper credit!)

These drawings, in my head and on my paper, seemed to me more like birds that endowed themselves with human-like behaviors. And so, in my uneducated but creative way, I ‘coined’ this ‘new’ word as a riff on anthropomorphism, and a name for my fantasy bird drawings - to give a category for, or an explanation of, their existence. 

Now, it did occur to me that I should check out this ‘invented’ word of mine against the rest of the world, and lo and behold, not so original after all - LOL.

But of course I cannot extract from any of my research on the definition that this already-existing word has anything to do with my cute creations - I thought better to throw in the Z in place of the S.

I also hope not to encounter an entity that has a claim to such a word.  If so, we will work it out.

Deciding I had a good idea - but not a bit of greeting card savvy - I began creating the original drawings in 3D form, and selling these sculptures as pins (you know, what people used to actually pin onto their lapels etc.) at some local, friendly wild bird supply and gift stores in my area. 

Then life took a sharp turn for a while, until about a decade ago, when I, again, began to sculpt my little birds. I actually still have some of those 1990’s original, vintage sculptures that I was able to update with magnets instead of pins.

In the last several years I have also been drawn to sculpting unadorned - or I should say naturally adorned - birds in their own uniqueness and beauty. Of course these were never meant to be more than a hint at the essence of their living models, and the cuteness factor of these brave and resilient creatures is mostly what I strive for. 

I put my creations out there for those people who are into little sparks of whimsy, a totem, or - like the living birds themselves – just to make you smile.