Sculptor born Derek John Morris in Birmingham, who studied art at the University of Newcastle on Tyne,1958-1963, before furthering his studies for a year at Chelsea School of Art. In 1970, he took up a post as Course Leader in Sculpture at Norwich School of Art, where he remained until he retired over two decades later. In 1996, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, and two years later, he was appointed President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, a post he held until his retirement in 2004. Morris was also a regular exhibitor with the Norwich 20 Group.

Derek Morris came from an artistic family; his mother was an accomplished weaver and needlewoman, and his father was a draughtsman and pattern maker for decorative sculpture, with a workshop at his home in Birmingham. His elder sister, Jean, was the first female student of jewellery at the Royal College of Art and became a jeweller and silversmith. His colourful abstract geometric sculptures, ceramics, and prints appeared in exhibitions at the British Museum, the Mall Galleries, New Art Centre, Roche Court, the Royal British Society of Sculptors, Norwich Castle Museum, Mandell's Gallery, the Norwich Castle Museum and abroad.