Deborah Mae was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1954. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia and an Equitation Certificate from Southern Seminary Junior College in Buena Vista, Virginia. She studied printmaking with Byron McKeeby at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she received her Master of Fine arts in Printmaking in 1980. Deborah Mae taught printmaking and drawing at the college level until 2003 when she retired from Minnesota State University Moorhead in Moorhead Minnesota to be a full time artist. She maintains a studio  (Prairie Press) on her farm in Hawley, Minnesota where she lives with her husband Byron, her mule Barfly, quarter horse Hog, and numerous rescued cats.