Debra Eubanks Riffe was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Howard University,College of Fine Arts, Washington, DC. Debra has exhibited her linoleum block relief prints, since 2006. Her work can be found in many private collections.

Debra has received the honor of many Juror Awards. In March 2008, Gail Trechsel Andrews, Director, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, presented Debra with a first place award for Works on Paper; from Dr. Emily Hanna, Curator of Arts of Africa and the Americas, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama; and she received the Most Popular Choice Award, 43rd Annual Bluff Park Art Show, Birmingham, Alabama.

Several publications have featured Debra’s needlepoint work including Needlepoint Now magazine, The Birmingham News and Portico magazine. However, because of the demand for her imagery and the impossible challenge of reproducing her needlework, in volume by hand, Debra made a decision to recreate her art as linoleum block relief prints. She has garnered an equal amount of attention and recognition.

 “I enjoy the versatility and the immediacy of drawing with a pencil and the physicality of turning a printing press.” The imagery of my linoleum block relief prints reflects an appreciation of legacy and tradition and is a personal testimony of always having a sense of place. “I’m confident in knowing that my place will always be where I am not.” Through simplicity of form, I practice traditional art principles to convey shape, gesture, attitude, movement and emotion.

All of my compositions are, exclusively, imagery of African American subjects in rural settings, performing routine tasks in timeless, solitary reflective moments. These tasks speak of social status and identity; intimacy and a sense of place. At first glance my figures appear to be anonymous. However, upon closer examination one will quickly recognize self, neighbor, friend or family harvesting purple hull black eye peas, picking peaches or idly playing an old guitar.

History and story are powerful elements and as such I try to illustrate complicated narratives as representations rather than documentations. I look for traditional southern-inspired expressions when perusing photographic archival references. I am an artist and a storyteller. It is my intent to incorporate social politics into my art, however subtle, and to invite the public to question, imagine and compare their own identities through their connections to the south, southern culture and to African Americans.

I find immense joy in examining the spontaneity and activities of childhood. “Many of the games and playfulness of youth which we all have some memory of are forgotten or sacrificed, as we age. Within each print, I try to introduce an activity or setting which will stir an emotion or an experience that the viewer will respond to. I sketch with an appreciation of the ordinary and I try not to idealize my subjects but rather record details of a culture and customs and memories . . . of days gone by.”