Deedee Morrison Sculpture

Illuminating art: Birmingham artist creates sparkling public sculptures for Daphne and Orange Beach

DAPHNE, Alabama -- Artist Deedee Morrison recently dressed up the grounds of the Daphne Public Library with an illuminating outdoor sculpture.

The prolific Birmingham-based sculptor last month installed "Luminosity," a 12-foot by 7-foot by 7-foot, painted steel and Plexiglas outdoor lantern-shaped sculpture featuring laser-cut medallions that radiate an emerald light.

"The medallions are the jewels of the lantern's setting which, with all of its facets, evokes the internal universe and limitless journeys available to each reader in books," Morrison said. "It is a perfect metaphor for the profound possibilities of every book within the walls of a library."

The New Orleans native said the lighting of the medallion from within represents the illumination readers experience when they behold and understand the written word in books.

"The library board and I feel very honored that we were chosen for the donation of the sculpture," said Daphne Library Director Tonja Young. "All the city employees that I've talked to feel it is really beautiful, especially after dark when it triggers the lights and glows a green glow. We are just enjoying it. A lot of the kids like Harry Potter and I've heard some of them say the sculpture looks cool and fantasy-like."

Morrison also is putting the finishing touches on "Lighthouse," a 14-foot by 4-foot by 4-foot sculpture set for installation on the grounds of the Orange Beach Arts Center by mid-January.

Purchased through the Friends of the Arts Center, Lighthouse will be a beacon for Orange Beach, a city that represents the cultural development of southern Alabama, Morrison said.

The 14-foot Lighthouse sculpture consists of four elements: a Corten steel pipe, 32 laser-cut Corten steel panels, Plexiglas and electricity. When combined, the elements demonstrate the power of invention and humanity, Morrison said.

"Steel is a structural element that is easily overlooked for some of its more graceful qualities," she said. "The steel panels are laser cut and re-fabricated to make a sculpture with an interior light."

The Daphne and Orange Beach sculptures cost $100,000 each and both were funded through private donations, Morrison said. Every sculpture created by Morrison is designed for strength as well as beauty. Made from industrial-grade steel, her sculptures are built to withstand inclement weather and real-world conditions.

Morrison has worked as a professional studio and public artist for more than a decade. Her experience includes a broad spectrum of commissioned work and public art planning and development. Her sculptures can be found throughout the United States in cities such as New Orleans, Charlottesville, Va., Washington, D.C., Key West and Birmingham.

"I understand the big picture and the importance of client and public involvement and the critical effect it has on the planning process and the project deliverable and outcome," Morrison said.

She describes her work as symbolic - based on the continuous interplay of nature, humanity and technology - and the effect each plays on the other. Ironically, she didn't start out studying art. Instead, Morrison was trained in developmental economics at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., studying in Spain during her junior year before enrolling in a welding program at Bessemer State Technical College in 1999 and earning her certification two years later.

"My focus after school was not only on methods of structural economic change, but also on improving the potential for the mass of population," she said. Morrison, whose Birmingham studio is situated in the outskirts of a rock quarry, said she views her art and mediums as metaphors for life, humanity and change.

"I seek in my work to represent this constant change of not only metal and stone, but also the change of people, nature and indeed life itself," she said. "I have sought to use water and illumination themes to reflect the human need for security and safe harbor in the storm of life. But at the same time, that which is tethered in security retains the potential to be set free: in nature, in life and in the immutable world of the spiritual."

Morrison's sculptures are larger than life and they attempt to evoke more than visual enjoyment.

"Art has value because it affords potential to provoke emotion, soulful thought, glimpses of beauty and realization of those things larger than ourselves," she said. "Interaction with sculpture is a tactile experience that allows one the potential to explore intellectually and emotionally, to engage, to enjoy."