Who Will Keep the Memories

Printmaker Debra Eubanks Riffe is the featured artist of the 45th Montgomery Art Guild exhibition, Alabama A to Z. A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, Riffe has resided in Birmingham, Alabama, for many years. Her active studio practice focuses exclusively on hand-pulled relief prints of woodcuts and linoleum blocks that reflect her love of the South and all things southern. Riffe explores a range of themes in her work including music, social injustice, civil rights, illiteracy and food inequality. 

 A professional graphic designer and illustrator for more than thirty years, Riffe earned her BFA from Howard University, College of Fine Arts, Washington D.C.  She is the recipient of numerous awards and has exhibited her work at venues including Athens State University, Athens, AL; Jemison Carnegie Heritage Hall, Talladega, AL; Johnson Center for the Arts, Troy, AL; Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, AL; Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, AL; Lowe Mill Arts, Huntsville, AL; Gumtree Museum of Art, Tupelo, MS; the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI; and the Freedom Rides Museum, Montgomery, AL. 

In August 2018, Riffe became the first African American female artist in the state of Alabama to partner with Starbucks Corporation to create a 22 x 12 foot mural for a newly constructed full service coffee shop and on-site training facility in Birmingham, Alabama.