David M. Bird loved his job as a toy designer for Lego. With a degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a knack for imaginative storytelling, designing action figures for the iconic company ticked all the right boxes. Or rather, almost all the right boxes.
The catch? The job was in Denmark. As much as he liked the country, Bird didn’t feel the urge to make Denmark his permanent home. After five years at Lego, he took a leap of faith and returned home to the United States. What came next was a total surprise, especially to Bird. He could not have imagined it; except he absolutely did.
One sunny day, Bird was sweeping his porch when he noticed a twig that looked distinctly like a bug’s face. He studied the sticks he’d gathered into a pile. This quiet, humble moment of wondering would lead him down an entirely different path, and a wooded one, at that. Bird went from designing action figures from plastic bricks to creating tiny sculptures with acorns and sticks.
Enter the Becorns
Becorns are whimsical woodland creatures born from Bird’s imagination and ingenuity; tiny sculptural characters crafted from materials Bird finds in his southern Rhode Island backyard (and a super-secret spot where he collects the perfect acorns). With these simple, abundant materials, Bird breathes life into these magical, miniature beings.
As delightful as they are, the Becorns themselves are part of a bigger picture. Bird bestows each little being with a carefully chosen name, personality, family, friends, and foes. Like any woodland creature, Becorns have complex social systems; relationships among their clans and with the fellow inhabitants of their biome: squirrels, birds, chipmunks and other backyard creatures. After dreaming each Becorn into being, Bird creates a variety of scenarios intended to reflect the joys, frustrations, and situations Becorns might find themselves in — feeding a chipmunk, battling a squirrel, carrying a basket of seeds home for supper, splashing in a birdbath with a feathered friend. Once he sets the scene, he works to capture the perfect moment in a photograph, a seemingly impossible, perfectly enchanting moment forever frozen in time.
Social media stardom
Most artists recognize that failure is a critical to the creative process; maybe even more than perceived success. Bird will be the first to admit that not all his ideas come to fruition as planned, and in fact, he documented one of these moments in “Attack of the Squirrels,” one of his first videos. Almost overnight, his YouTube channel blew up, and as of now, has amassed more than 176,000 subscribers with his behind-the-scenes photos and videos, enhanced by Bird’s original musical compositions, are art in their own right.
Building a community
Bird has not only built the Becorn universe and an extensive body of work; he also built an ever-expanding Becorns community. Whether through social media or in-person exhibitions and workshops, Bird’s authenticity, affable demeanor, and infectious sense of curiosity draw people of ages to his work and his world. Wherever his imagination next leads him, his fans will be along for the ride.
In a complicated and messy world, Bird finds beauty and charm in the most familiar of places. His blend of imagination and observation give Becorns their universal appeal. They speak a language that everyone understands: one of joy, wonder, and connection, a place most knew once, long ago, but may have forgotten.
Curious? For more whimsy and wonder, watch our award-winning story “Acorns to Becorns” below:
