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As Dean Morrissey shows us, the inhabitants of his "Great Kettles" book series have a far greater impact on our world than we could imagine. The Spring Solstice, for instance, is when the cool Beacon of Winter is replaced with the warm Summer Sun. Designed to bring about lighter, longer days, it is the job of the Lantern Keeper, Maura Bump, and her vessel the Lightship to see that the golden amber ball is fixed radiantly in the sky and that the long-awaited Spring arrives.
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Dean Morrissey has been drawing and creating characters since his childhood in
Boston. Inspired by Disney matte paintings and comic book heroes early on, he
grew to appreciate the works of the masters, such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pyle
and N.C. Wyeth.
Morrissey worked a variety of job until deciding to paint full time in the
late
1970’s. He worked as a freelance book cover illustrator for over 15 different
publishers in New York and won numerous awards. Morrissey is self taught, and
considers the demands of cover illustration to have been his “art school”.
In 1991, Morrissey began to paint some images from a story that he was
creating. His books include Ship of Dreams Harry N Abrams (1994), The Great
Kettles: A Tale of Time Harry N Abrams (1997), The Song of Celestine Little,
Brown and Co. (1998), The Christmas Ship HarperCollins (2000), A Christmas
Carol Greenwich Workshop Press (2000), The Moon Robber HarperCollins (2001),
The Winter King HarperCollins (2002), and The Monster Trap HarperCollins
(2004).
His awards include The Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for The Great
Kettles, The Chesley Award for The Light Ship (2002), and he is a current
nominee for this year’s Chesley Award for Anna of the Celts (2003).
Morrissey lives with his wife Shan and his son on the South Shore of
Massachusetts.
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