Norris was born in Victoria, BC, in 1928. He attended the Vancouver School of Art and studied with Yugoslav sculptor Ivan Mestrevic at Syracuse University. He won a BC scholarship for a year of advanced study at the Slade School of Art, London, in 1965. He later worked as a carpenter's helper, miner, survey crew member, mill worker, and logger, and taught at UBC, VSA, Penticton Summer School of Art, Banff School of Fine Arts, and Emily Carr College of Art. He worked full time as a sculptor/designer in metal, stone and wood from 1958 to 1983, when he moved to Shawnigan Lake. In 2010, he was a recipient of the Mayor's Arts Award in Public Art.