Cynthia Back

Mixed Media


 

Printmaking

 

Archived Work

 


Contact Information

28 Pennock Terrace
Lansdowne, PA 19050
tel: 610-284-1990
e-mail:
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement

I work as a printmaker and painter. I also use fragments of my prints combined with paint to make collages. In many of these I recycle old watercolors or monotypes, using them for the first layer. In others I make zinc or copper plates for the purpose of printing them for collage. Proofs and print fragments are reused. I use layer upon layer, painting and cutting prints for color, detail and pattern.

I focus on landscape: water, forests, and the way in which they are being changed. My subject matter is a response to the environmental degredation I see and read about while also conveying my deep attachment to this natural environment; it’s ever-changing pattern, color, and shape. This tension between these oppositional forces is important in my work.
Repeated motifs stress fragmentation and explore composition, while the collage medium emphasizes the anarchistic nature of much of the current landscape. My attraction to printmaking and collage comes from a fascination with the many ways I am able to play with images, determining the appropriate processes, juxtaposing shapes and colors, and changing the feel of my work by the aesthetic choices I make. I love the discipline of the reduction relief printmaking process and the surprises which come with each layering of color.

Education

1978 – 1979
St. Martin’s School of Art, London, England

1976 – 1977
Wimbledon School of Art, London, England

1975 – 1978
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
BFA

Affiliations

The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

Awards and Honors

2009
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant

Residency, Acadia National Park

2005
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant

2003
The Puffin Foundation Grant

2002
Commissioned Print, University Print Club, Cleveland, OH

2000
Residency, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, NM

Residency, Foundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain

1999
Residency, The Cill Rialaig Project, Co. Kerry, Ireland

1997
Fellowship, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Ltd., Co. Mayo, Ireland

1996
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. Grant

Selected Collections

Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Princeton, NJ
British Airways, Boston, MA
British Airways, Charlotte, NC
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC
First Union Bank, Summit, NJ
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, NY
The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
The Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ
The New York Public Library
Pennsylvania Savings Bank, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

2011
reSource, Fireside Gallery, Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA

2010
Solo Series, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA

2008
WaterWorks: An Exploration in Print & Collage, Siren’s Song Gallery, Greenport, NY

2005
Natural Reservations: Observational Prints, Art Gallery, Villanova University, Villanova, PA

2004
Sprawl, Fireside Gallery, Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA

2003
Sub-natural Layers: New Intaglio Prints, University City Arts League, Philadelphia, PA

Every Thing Under The Moon: Recent Intaglio Prints, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art satellite Member’s Gallery at the Delaware Center for Horticulture, Wilmington, DE

2000
Watershed, The Atrium Gallery, Chubb Group, Warren, NJ

1997
Transformation: Paintings and Prints, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY

Group

2012
Multiple Encounters 2, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts; New Delhi, India

The Print Booked, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Ken Kirschman Artspace, New Orleans, LA

Re/Using Our Resources, Sandy Springs Museum, Sandy Springs, MD

2010
Inside and Outside the Clamshell Box, The Gallery at Delaware County Community College, Media, PA

Abington Art Center at The William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

Art in the Open, City Hall and Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Mark: Remarque, The Free Library of Philadelphia and The Crane Building, Philadelphia, PA

Impressions: Exploring Printmaking in the 21st Century, Penn Charter, Fort Washington, PA

Human Book, Loring-Art Bookshop, Centro Civico Pati Llimona, Barcelona, Spain

2009
Natural Histories, Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY

Intaglio a Go Go, The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Drawn to Washington, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD

Post-Petroleum: Envisioning the Future of Suburban Space in America, Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, NV

Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2008, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

ArtBound: Book Design Past and Present, The Athenæum, Philadelphia, PA

Musings on Nature, The Northwest Artists Coalition, at Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA

Sixty by Sixty, The Duke Gallery, Wallingford, PA

Environmental Distress, The Women’s Caucus for Art at Redding Gallery, Wilmington, DE

2007
Pink at Perkins: the Contradictory Character of a Complex Color, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ

Singular Objects, The Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony 1907-2007, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

2006
The Natural World Unveiled, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, PA

The Library Show, The Artist’s Book Library, Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Fairview: The Strip, Time & Space Gallery, Hudson, NY

The Summer Exhibition, The Courthouse Gallery, The Ballinglen Centre, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Multiple Encounters, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademy & Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India

Artists in Rural Ireland: American Artists at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

Of the Deep and the Shallows, Siren’s Song Gallery, Greenport, NY

Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, AK

2005
New York/Paris DIALOGUE Paris/New York, Atelier Lacouriere-Frelaut, Paris, France; The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; Abrons Art Center, New York, NY; Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY

New Prints 2005/Spring, International Print Center New York, New York, NY

Printmaking: From Tamarind to 1026, Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

North American Print Biennial, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA

2004
Multiple Encounters, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India

In Print, Triangle Gallery, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH

2003
Eire/Land, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

2002
Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Aisling Geal (Clear/Brilliant Vision), The Riverbank Arts Center, Newbridge, Co., Kildare, Ireland

2001
29 Gravures New Yorkais a Paris, Galerie Delta, Paris, France

2000
Graphic New York, Level 5 Gallery, Dundee, Scotland

1999
A-Way to Ireland, McGowan Fine Art Inc., Concord, NH

1998
Druckgrafik Aus New York, Galerie Station 3, Vienna, Austria

 

 

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