Deborah McCullough
Mixed Media Artist, Tucson, AZ

“The act of working on and creating Las Madres-no mas lagrimas was humbling and empowering at the same time. It gave me an opportunity to tie my life to the pain and suffering of women I've never met but hold dear in my heart and thoughts.”

-Deb McCollough

Deborah McCullough is a mixed media artist. She works in cloth, paper, wood or a combination of the three depending on the subject and message of the work. Deborah was born in Akron, Ohio in 1950 but was raised in western Maryland and studied several traditional Appalachian arts at workshops and in classes.

Her parents were always active in social issues, but it was her junior year in college, spent in Beirut, Lebanon that changed her life. Meeting and talking with Palestinian refugees, hearing their stories and seeing the poverty and the hopelessness of their lives touched her. After college she taught in Cairo, Egypt at an Egyptian girls’ school. Her experiences there led to a lifetime interest in human rights issues. Since then her travels have led her around the world and her art reflects much of her experience.

In 1999 she was asked to create a doll for the Clinton White House. She has taught cloth doll making workshops in North Carolina and Arizona. As her figures became more complex and layered, they took on the form of artist books. This led her into the art book world and the presidency of Paperworks: the Sonoran Collective of Book and Paper Artists.

For the past two years her work has dealt exclusively with the US-Mexican border issue. She works with the No More Deaths organization, using her art as a way to educate others about the suffering and needless deaths of border crossers in the Arizona-Sonoran desert. The Shoe Shrine is a tribute to women who cross in poor shoes, are pierced by thorns, have bruised and bleeding feet and are sometimes left behind to die.