Debbie Griffin spent her professional career as an educator: first as a teacher for the deaf, then as an assistant principal, and later as a college professor at the University of South Florida in Sarasota. Advocating for the rights of individuals with special needs and limited communication skills has always been her passion.

As a child, Griffin enjoyed wandering through the park located across from her modest row house in the gritty city of Philadelphia. There, she spent many hours picking flowers, planting seeds, and nurturing plants.

While living in Florida during the pandemic, she decided to paint flowers for 100 days with the objective of exploring their botanical composition. Over time, her drawings became more whimsical. She began gathering and pressing flowers, preserving them between beveled panes of glass to create miniature bouquets. In 2022, she completed a 15-panel piece consisting of these miniature bouquets titled Flora-Bunda, which was selected for a six-month exhibition, Florida in Transformation, at the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In 2022, Debbie relocated to Johnson City, Tennessee, to be closer to her daughter and her family. The theme of “100 Days of Flowers” continued to expand as she incorporated her floral designs into enameled jewelry, unique embroidered pieces, and mosaics.

Debbie is the founder and co-owner of the Griffin Art Gallery in Jonesborough, Tennessee, where her work is also exhibited.