Cultural Alliance (GIA): 2nd Update

I am a 2008 GIA Award Winner and acknowledge the support provided by the Grants to Individual Artists Program administered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.


Thanksgiving 2008!

I've finally decided to take some real vacation time away from my job. It has been an adjustment, to say the least. Two days has always been my self-imposed limit. I didn't realize how mentally exhausted I was until the fourth day! Although I had been wrestling with a terrible cold for a week, it took that long for me to feel completely rested and at peace.



I've been working on my CAGB project and I'm excited about the progress that I've made this week. A couple of weeks ago, CAGB held an evening workshop for the 2008 GIA Award Winners led by Bradford Kachelhofer and Michael Bell of The Modern Brand Company, LLC. The workshop focused on when, where and how to successfully promote yourself and your project. In other words, how to leverage your GIA Grant. It dawned on me that at some point, probably in the not too distant future, I may be asked by the media to provide an image to accompany the summary of my narrative/proposal.


My CAGB proposal: To create a series of linoleum block relief prints documenting the 1930s migration of an African-American sharecropper family from Alabama’s Black Belt region to industrial Birmingham.

The image has a WPA feel which is exactly what I was striving for. Once this block is finished I'll print, scan and then save it as a digital file. The final size of this block will be 12" x 18".

These pictures show: a) the original sketch on tracing paper and the image drawn in reverse on the surface of the lino block; b) the inked block and c) the 1st proof on newsprint.

I'll post the final print in a few days with the title.

Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham 2008 GIA Award Winner

I'm pleased to announce that I am one (of eight) individuals who has been selected to receive a 2008 Grants to Individual Artists (GIA) funding award. There were two teams. My $5000 grant is awarded in the name of a GIA donor Mrs. Gloria Narramore Moody. 61 proposals were presented to the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham team; 60 proposals were reviewed.

A summary of all of the Grants to Individual Artists Awards can be read here. My project is to "create a series of linoleum block relief prints documenting the migration of an African-American sharecropper family from Alabama's Black Belt region to the industrial city of Birmingham and settling in the company town of Sloss Furnaces."

My proposal has a number of components. In addition to creating the lino block prints, I will document my one year process digitally, publish the prints, exhibit the prints, take a caste iron class at Sloss Furnaces, collaborate with Sloss Furnaces to create a caste iron panel of one of the blocks, teach the linoleum block printing process to a select group of children (possibly students in the Birmingham City Schools) and finally to exhibit the entire series of prints. If you would like to read my entire proposal email me at: debra.riffe@gmail.com make your request and I'll mail a hard copy via USPS to your mailing address.

Kudos to all of the talented artists who participated in the process and congratulations to the 2008 GIA Grantees.