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Across America, in parks and outside libraries, you’ll find artist Deedee Morrison’s remarkable steel sculptures - beautiful towers of silver sheet metal that glow from within like a firefly after sunset. Grand as they are, these beautiful structures have unexpectedly humble beginnings at Deedee’s studio in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Designer recently interviewed artist Deedee Morrison of Birmingham,
Alabama, to ask her about the inspiration for her intriguing art.

You don’t expect a beautiful, solar-powered aluminum sculpture to come alive in a rock quarry amid millions of year’s worth of sediment. You also don’t expect several artists to have their studios right next to gravel shooting out on belts and piling up several hundred feet. This is the scene at Wade Sand & Gravel in downtown Birmingham, where the quarry plays host to several world-class artists.

Morrison's work is on display throughout the country, from the earthy Pacific Northwest San Juan Islands in the state of Washington to America's heartland in Oklahoma City. But over the past few years she has organically and gracefully "imprinted" a beautiful trail of public art on her home state.

Renewable energy. Science and technology. The natural world. Many of the varied interests of public artist Deedee Morrison find form in her new kinetic sculpture Borrowed Light, created by the artist for Oklahoma City’s Pioneer Library System.

The artwork, entitled Borrowed Light, is a kinetic light sculpture created as a metaphor for the many journey's of enlightenment a reader can take within the pages of a book. The piece is made from 12 sheets of laser cut industrial grade aluminum, which is illuminated from within to achieve a radiant green color at night.

People who discover their artistic passion through unconventional means often approach a subject quite differently than someone who follows a more structured course of study. Deedee Morrison, an economist by training, became fascinated with the public art she encountered while living in London.

Alabama artist Deedee Morrison recently assisted with the installation of “Borrowed Light,” a sculpture on view at the Southwest Oklahoma City Public Library

Alabama Sculptor DeeDee Morrison’s studio is nestled in a limestone quarry.

An active one.

A new solar-powered sculpture installed Wednesday near the wetlands in Renaissance Park artistically demonstrates how solar power works by illuminating laser-cut sheets of metal designed to replicate a seed pod coming out of a dormant state to form new life.